Formula E Monaco E-Prix: Back-to-Back Race Wins Hands Nick Cassidy Driver's Championship Lead
Porsche's Gen3 capabilities seemed to be waning in Monaco, but the team was doomed from the start as software problems cost Pascal Wehrlein and Antonio Felix da Costa valuable track time during the first practice session.
By Divyam Dubey
New Zealand's Nick Cassidy jumped to the top of the Formula E world championship standings after starting ninth on the grid and winning Monaco E-Prix. Cassidy of Envision Racing won the race at Monte Carlo, with Mitch Evans of Jaguar in second place, 0.390 seconds behind, and Jake Dennis of McLaren, driving for Andretti, finishing third. After two consecutive triumphs by Evans in Brazil and Berlin, New Zealand swept the podium again with Cassidy, who is also from Auckland and is 28 years old. Once in the lead of the championship, Porsche's Pascal Wehrlein sputtered and drained his energy, scoring just one point after the others had been eliminated. With McLaren's Jake Hughes out front and works Nissan drivers Sacha Fenestraz and Norman Nato in second and third, respectively, the Nissan powertrain 1-2-3 held at the start was replicated in the qualifying results, but the front pack was predictably jumbled big-time as most drivers hurried to get their two attack mode activations out of the way before even halfway through the race.
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Formula E Monaco E-Prix: Race Result
Jaguar-powered vehicles maintained their blistering speed from the Berlin E-Prix in Monaco. By Lap 7, Cassidy had taken the lead thanks to his early surge. Evans was warned early on to not pass Cassidy, but on Lap 21 he was granted permission to do so. Cassidy's win was assured when the Safety Car was deployed with just three laps remaining.
Dennis made significant progress as well, moving up the ranks from 11th on the starting grid to third place. Sacha Fenestraz of Nissan and Jake Hughes of McLaren finished fourth and fifth, respectively. A post-race penalty demoted Fenestraz from his on-track pole position, giving Hughes the top spot.
| Pos No | Drivers | TEAMs | Gap |
| 1 | Nick Cassidy | Envision Racing | 50:23.8 |
| 2 | Mitch Evans | Jaguar TCS Racing | 0.39 |
| 3 | Jake Dennis | Avalanche Andretti Formula E | 1.017 |
| 4 | Sacha Fenestraz | Nissan Formula E Team | 2.148 |
| 5 | Jake Hughes | NEOM McLaren Formula E Team | 2.788 |
| 6 | Dan Ticktum | NIO 333 Racing | 3.368 |
| 7 | Jean-Éric Vergne | DS Penske | 4.374 |
| 8 | Sébastian Buemi | Envision Racing | 4.783 |
| 9 | Stoffel Vandoorne | DS Penske | 5.394 |
| 10 | Sam Bird | Jaguar TCS Racing | 6.469 |
| 11 | Pascal Wehrlein | TAG Heuer Porsche Formula E Team | 6.705 |
| 12 | Edoardo Mortara | Maserati MSG Racing | 7.624 |
| 13 | Lucas di Grassi | Mahindra Racing | 8.576 |
| 14 | Robin Frijns | ABT CUPRA Formula E Team | 9.62 |
| 15 | Sérgio Sette Câmara | NIO 333 Racing | 10.684 |
| 16 | António Félix da Costa | TAG Heuer Porsche Formula E Team | 11.141 |
| 17 | René Rast | NEOM McLaren Formula E Team | 12.295 |
| 18 | Norman Nato | Nissan Formula E Team | 13.423 |
| 19 | Nico Müller | ABT CUPRA Formula E Team | DNF |
| 20 | Maximilian Günther | Maserati MSG Racing | DNF |
| 21 | Oliver Rowland | Mahindra Racing | DNF |
| 22 | André Lotterer | Avalanche Andretti Formula E | DNF |
Formula E Monaco E-Prix: Porsche struggles
After losing the lead in the Formula E championship in the dismal Monaco E-Prix, where once-dominant points leader Pascal Wehrlein's race faded as desolately as his once-healthy points advantage, Porsche will not panic, but there will be plenty of difficult questions to answer.
Wehrlein is currently in second place, 20 points behind Nick Cassidy, who won his second straight Formula E race in Monaco.
With Antonio Felix da Costa's puncture preventing him from scoring for Porsche, the German manufacturer has fallen 13 points behind Envision Racing in the teams' standings.
Since the Hyderabad E-Prix in February, when Jaguar's works team blew up due to Bird's error and struck Mitch Evans, Porsche has not been able to outscore a Jaguar-powered team. If Porsche's technological package is going to live up to its promise, the tide that has been prevailing since then has to be reversed as quickly as possible.
