Jaguar misses the points in Formula E’s Miami ePrix

Miami is one of the cities that Formula E should race in. The US is one of the holy grail markets for the series and our recent adventures over there have evidenced that there is an upward curve in engagement.

We’ve raced on the West Coast (Long Beach), the Northwest (Portland) and the East Coast (New York), so it was entirely logical for us to go south to Florida again, a decade on from the first visit. It makes a lot of sense to be around this city because the catchment area is huge. It looks likely we will be back next year, and the only question is if we go to Homestead or downtown where Formula 1 races. It feels like the latter is the natural progression and that this event, with one in another major city in 2026, would tick the boxes that are necessary for the championship. If Formula E can make it happen, I think it would be a real boost to have two US dates on the calendar.

At Homestead we saw a massive challenge due to the quirky multilayered track surface which meant that grip levels were minimal on some sections of the circuit but overall tyre wear was very high. There is a huge task this season from a vehicle dynamics point of view with the Gen3 Evo package and in particular the new-spec Hankook tyres.

For us, we had a real mixture of emotions in Miami because after working super hard in the two-month calendar break we found in practice that our one-lap pace had improved. But when it mattered in qualifying, getting into that complex tyre-temperature sweet spot meant there was a mid-grid start for Nick Cassidy and Mitch Evans.

It’s unusual for us not to be participating beyond the group phase of the qualifying system but at Homestead that is what transpired. Yet, with knowing that the race was going to be a really high-energy demand, pack-racing contest, we were confident that we could be in the mix for some strong points.

Sadly for Mitch it all ended when he was the innocent victim of an accident between Jake Hughes and Maximilian Günther at a chicane, forcing him to pit for repairs which was impossible to come back from. It was more misfortune for Mitch and I feel for him because when you have a fighter and a proven winner like him on your team, to see him eliminated like that through no fault of his own is really tough to take.

For Nick, a really solid and promising race was developing whereby he was hitting some great energy targets and looking good on his attack mode strategy and energy consumption. But then he was hit with a track limits violation and knew that a 5sec penalty was going to play out. In any other race that might be something you can overturn, but in a pack-race like the Miami ePrix it was a big hit.

“I think it would be a real boost to have two US dates on the calendar”

Nick never lost focus and drove an excellent final portion of the race to cross the line in a strong eighth place. Although we knew he would get shuffled out of the points after his penalty was applied there was still pride in the way he fought every inch of the way.

Sometimes you come racing and do the hard work but the results don’t always show the progress made. We can see it though because the good performance in free practice and in race power mode gives some motivation to now kick-on and get back to the success we enjoyed last year and at the beginning of this season with Mitch’s win in São Paulo.

We know deep down we have made a step-up in pace, which is good to see because coming up in May we have a series of double-headers at Monaco, Tokyo and Shanghai. For us this intense six-race period will be a real opportunity to get back up the points table.

What you see in Formula E is a movable form book based on specifics of venues to some extent. Points leader Oliver Rowland had a tough and pointless weekend in Miami too.

It’s an on-going process and part of dealing with the disappointment when your race result doesn’t reflect the work put in is just to dig in and get even more focused to turn it around, which Jaguar TCS Racing will be doing.

There are over 300 points left for any individual driver to score this season, and in the teams’ title more than 500 points per team, so there’s plenty of racing still to do.

On a personal level some news broke just after the Miami ePrix around my future whereby at the end of the season I will be moving on from my position as MD at JLR Motorsport and team principal of Jaguar TCS Racing to pursue a new role in motor sport. Since I joined the company in 2013, as a team we have enjoyed many significant accomplishments, including Jaguar’s first world championship win since 1991 last year. It has been an honour and privilege to play a role in Jaguar’s amazing motor sport heritage.

Establishing the Defender entry in the Dakar Rally and World Rally Raid Championship from 2026 has been an amazing journey too, and I know the Jaguar and Defender teams are incredibly strong. I look forward to seeing what they achieve in the future.

I’m determined that we add to those achievements this season too and will chronical our efforts here with Motor Sport until the Formula E season finale on our home turf of London in late July. We will keep fighting hard.