Nick Cassidy has revealed he suffered from cramping due to the way he drove in the rain during the final round of the 2023 Formula E season in London as he beat Mitch Evans.
Cassidy‘s win gave Envision the teams’ championship as he held off a mid-race charge from Evans, with the pair in a league of their own at the front of the field in treacherous conditions.
“I’ve got cramp in my lower leg,” Cassidy exclusively told Total-Motorosport.com. “We drove at such a low throttle percentage that I was driving like this [with his legs raised higher than normal] to try and be so precise, I got massive cramp. So that shows how tough it is.”
On how he held off Evans, he added: “All race Mitch had a bit of an advantage in the indoor. I’m not sure if that was driving related, setup or tyre pressures.
“Once I recognised that I tried to under consume and save more energy, so I could drive fast on the indoors and try to match his pace. He got close to me but then I was able to stretch out the gap.”
A big challenge for the drivers
The second race in London was the first time the new Hankook tyres have been raced in wet conditions. There were two red flags following intermittent safety car laps and the first green flag action came nearly 90 minutes after the scheduled start.
Total-Motorsport.com spoke to several drivers after the race and they all agreed the conditions were extremely challenging, particularly during the opening laps.
“Horrible!” acclaimed Stoffel Vandoorne when asked about getting the tyres up to temperature.
“It was quite challenging. These tyres are all-weather compounds but when it’s wet, it is so slippery. There’s literally zero grip, lot of wheel spinning, a lot of aquaplaning. It was a good call to delay the race at the beginning.
“A little bit afterwards it was okay – it was manageable, it was drivable. But it was super challenging out there to keep the car on track and not make any mistakes.”
“The Michelin had a bit more grip in general – whether it’s dry or wet. Still not ideal, but it was a bit better compared to what we have now.”
Evans added: “It was tricky to make them work because it’s a hard tyre. I was hoping with the inside I could heat them up, so you can save them for the outside but in those conditions it was really tough. But, even in the dry, it was tricky as well.”
