Nick Cassidy has described his Sao Paulo E-Prix accident with Pascal Wehrlein, which sent the reigning Formula E champion airborne and upside down into the barrier, as “a sickening feeling”.
The Jaguar driver had been towards the front of a dramatic season-opener in Brazil that featured two red flags and was eventually won by team-mate Mitch Evans from last on the grid.
While Evans had moved into the lead and headed Antonio Felix da Costa in the closing stages, Cassidy in third was attacked from behind by DS Penske’s Maximilian Gunther and Porsche’s Wehrlein into the tight Turn 4/5 chicane.
Gunther was pushed into the wall on the outside of the circuit with Cassidy, who was in the middle of the trio, consequently breaking the suspension on his Jaguar.
The damage meant Cassidy’s car failed to turn for the following flat-out, right-handed Turn 6 and he hit the side of Wehrlein’s Porsche causing it to tip onto its side.
The top of Wehrlein’s car made heavy contact with the barrier on the outside of the circuit before coming to rest upside down.
Wehrlein reported over the radio that he was trapped and a red flag was deployed to aid the German, who extracted himself from the car unhurt but visibly shaken once it was righted.
Taken to hospital for precautionary checks, a Porsche spokesperson confirmed that Wehrlein was uninjured and had spoken to his family, as well as watched the end of the race.
Speaking to Autosport about the accident, which was investigated by the stewards who decided on no further action, Cassidy said: “It’s kind of a sickening feeling whenever you see a car upside down so just very glad he’s okay.
“I don’t really feel like I hit anyone, I had two cars come from behind me to in front of me and both kind of sandwiched me. I don’t know what I was meant to do there.”
With a second red flag neutralising the race, Cassidy recovered to the pits where his team attempted to repair the car.
He rejoined for the four-lap dash to the flag but retired before the chequered flag due to issues possibly unrelated to the accident.
“We had some kind of energy issue, there was something wrong in our software for the last few laps,” said Cassidy.
“I don’t know what was bent or broken, we had to repair a lot to be able to get back out and then when I was out we had some other stuff going on.”
