Antonio Felix da Costa took victory in a mesmerising Formula E Madrid E-Prix, leading a Jaguar 1-2 which transpired to be fraught with contention.
The Portuguese driver calmly came through a Pit Boost race amid hectic pack racing to secure a second successive win, elevating him to second in the Drivers’ Championship standings.
Evans stormed through the field to put himself in contention, but da Costa firmly but fairly held him off, but the Kiwi was angry that he was not allowed to be swapped with his teammate.
It was heartbreak for Dan Ticktum, who looked in the strongest position to win late on, but could not find a way past the Jaguars and ultimately lost third on the approach to the finish line by Pascal Wehrlein.
Cassidy holds lead
At the start, Cassidy got away from pole and led into Turn 1, with da Costa trying to sweep past around the outside. It left de Vries to get into second, but da Costa retook the place before the end of the lap.
Nato went wide at Turn 1 and dropped down to ninth, undoing his hard work in qualifying in the morning.
The Dutchman’s recent streak of incidents continued on Lap 2, as, with da Costa trying to overtake on the outside, he outbraked himself and ploughed into the back of Wehrlein’s Porsche.
Lap 4, and Wehrlein tried to get ahead but Cassidy fended him off, leaving Ticktum to capitalise and take second.
Wehrlein was back ahead a lap later, with da Costa fifth, having dropped to fifth behind Guenther. Dennis had a bright early start, taking seventh, with Jean-Eric Vergne also impressing, moving up to ninth.
Vergne and Dennis continued to move up. with Drugovich moving up to ninth on Attack Mode, the first driver to do so.
The Brazilian soared up to fourth, nudging da Costa out of the way, and by Lap 8, was in the lead, opening up a gap of a whole second as his Attack Mode wore off.
Marti, to the delight of his home crowd, was now up to sixth on Attack Mode, with di Grassi also taking his extra energy.
His team-mate Ticktum was told to hold him up as he enivtably went ahead, and with no pressure, Marti took the lead on Lap 10.
Lap 11, and da Costa, Wehrlein, Guenther, Buemi, de Vries and Verge were the first to take Pit Boost.
This left Kiro 1 and 2, with both opting not to pit.
Da Costa was the first to leave the pits, with Guenther getting the jump on Wehrlein.
With di Grassi using his Attack Mode, he was now in front of the pack, with Marti ahead of Ticktum, and Cassidy holding fourth.
Wehrlein was the only one of the first five to Pit to take Attack Mode, as di Grassi, Ticktum, Mortara and Barnard pitted. Da Costa was now de facto leader with Marti, Cassidy, Dennis, Mueller and Eriksson now pitting.
With the Kiros having held him up, Cassidy was a big loser, as Mitch Evans was the last to pit on Lap 15.
Jaguars storm forth after Pit Boost
Guenther, on Attack Mode, was desperately trying to take da Costa for third and the net lead, but the Portuguese valiantly held on as the German eventually got ahead at the start of Lap 16, but as his Attack Mode ran out.
Mueller and Cassidy took their Attacks from 10th and 12th, as da Costa retook the lead on Lap 17, with his Attack still left. Guenther had a gaggle of cars also yet to take their Attack Mode behind him, and the first to do so was Buemi, in fifth.
He quickly dispatched Ticktum for fifth, as da Costa held a 1.2 second lead. He took his Attack Mode on Lap 18, holding a lead of 0.5s from Buemi.
Guenther was now 10th, as the leading cars all took their Attack Mode, giving Wehrlein a chance to take teammate Mueller, which he did on Lap 19.
Da Costa looked strong out front, but Ticktum in fifth place had a bigger amount of energy, as the Jaguar fended off the chasing pack for now.
Ticktum was up to third and then made a brilliant move on Wehrlein for second. Evans, nowhere all weekend, was now third, moving ahead of the Porsche, as da Costa still held the lead.
On the penultimate lap, da Costa was just four tenths of a second ahead, with Ticktum hounding him, as Evans kept a watching brief behind him, ready to pick up any pieces that might fall his way.
Going into the final lap, it was going to be Jaguar leading it as Evans moved ahead of Ticktum. Evans tried to find a way past his teammate as Ticktum still tried to keep in touch.
As the leader tumbled down to the final corner, da Costa had Ticktum to his left and Evans to his right. They both tried. They both failed.
Da Costa held on with a brilliant victory, his second in a row, and Evans making it a Jaguar 1-2 in a superb team performance.
Ticktum agonisingly just lost third to Wehrlein on the line, with Mortara fifth, Buemi sixth, Dennis a brilliant seventh. Mueller took eighth, with home hero Marti completing a great drive with ninth, and Joel Eriksson completing the top 10.
After the race, delayed radio transmissions and Evans’ visibly irked body language showed that he was furious with not being given the chance to win, leading to a fraught discussion between both men and the Jaguar team before the podium even took place.
READ MORE – Formula E 2026 Madrid E-Prix – Race Results
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