Hero to zero: What happened to Mitch Evans?
- Jodie Saxon
- 2 days ago
- 5 min read
Written by Jodie Saxon, Edited by Kashish Goel
Second. Third. Second. Those are Mitch Evans’ results from the past three seasons of Formula E. 16th place. That is where Evans currently sits with just over half of season 11 gone. So, what happened?
Season 11 so far
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When Mitch Evans stepped onto the top step of the podium in São Paulo — golden trophy in one hand, an impressive bottle of champagne in the other and a smile wider than the Sambadrome the race took place on — he surely did not anticipate the challenging season that lay ahead.
Seasons seven, nine, and ten had all seen the winner of the opening round go on to win the title as well, and many fans thought the same would happen this time around. Finally, it seemed like Evans’ time had come, the trophy in his hand on that colourful podium was surely going to be the first of many and everyone was watching that moment with a smile, knowing they were finally there to witness things click into place for Evans.
Then reality hit, and it hit hard. Soon, the smiles from Evans faded into frustrated grimaces as his races were cut short by contact with other drivers, sometimes his own fault, sometimes not. The cheers for the future champion who had battled so bravely from last on the grid to first at the chequered flag dulled into sighs of despair as even a top 15 finish felt impossible to earn, and the champagne that flowed so freely in São Paulo dried up.
In Mexico City, he collided with Nico Müller’s Andretti, caught unaware by the slowing Swiss driver. In Jeddah, he made contact with the reigning champion, Pascal Wehrlein, at the race start, earning himself a five-second penalty. Struggling further, he went on to retire from the second Jeddah race with a technical issue.
Another new track followed Jeddah, with the Homestead-Miami Speedway offering a fresh start for the Kiwi, but yet another unlucky race saw him getting involved in a tangle between Maximilian Günther and Jake Hughes, the situation made worse by Günther when he reversed into Evans in his haste to escape from the pile-up.
Monaco came next and surely his eyes were on a return to the podium, the legendary circuit had seen Evans gallantly lead home a Jaguar Racing 1-2 finish in the season 10 edition… but season 11 did him no favours and he was plagued by technical gremlins in the first race and pace issues in the second.
When everybody thought things couldn’t get worse for Evans, the Tokyo E-Prix weekend came along. In Saturday’s race, he was hit by Nyck de Vries as he was exiting the pit lane. Not long after, he returned to the pits to retire with undrivable damage.
The second race ended hours before it started for Evans, with damage from a crash in qualifying ensuring that he was unable to start the race. Although, perhaps that was a merciful outcome as it made it impossible for the weekend to get any worse from that point onwards.
Those 25 points that Evans scored in the opening race remain the only points he has scored this season. He is trapped in a maze of races and every time he turns, he is faced with retirements, crashes and a newfound unreliability from the Jaguar powertrain.
To see a driver of Evans’ calibre suffering so, especially as his rivals from previous seasons celebrate under a nearly never-ending shower of champagne, is uncomfortable to watch. Any other year and he would be up there celebrating with them, snatching every point possible and gearing up for the final fight of the season.
It’s not just a Mitch Evans problem
The problems at Jaguar Racing are also reflected in Nick Cassidy’s side of the garage, although not as severely. The once-hopeful Cassidy sits only a handful of positions ahead of Evans with a highest finish of 3rd across his quartet of points finishes, although one positive for Cassidy is that he has yet to record a retirement this season.
Cassidy stated earlier in the season that “We’re a little bit behind where we want to be with this car” and was overall unsure of the team’s capabilities, in hindsight he was right, the team has struggled with pace and reliability issues but those watching were too dazzled by Evans’ last-to-first in Brazil to realise it until now.
As a whole, Jaguar Racing lingers in a bit of a no man’s land in the championship, sharing the gap between the Stellantis-powered Maserati and the traditional backmarker team of Kiro with customer team Envision Racing.
Sebastien Buemi of Envision managed a win in Monaco, but the win came more from his skill as a driver and a clever strategy from the team rather than outright pace – which pales in comparison to the might of Porsche and Nissan – but the advantage of taking Attack Mode early is starting to wear out as other drivers and teams have taken note of this and employ that strategy too. When everyone takes it early, the advantage of doing so is wiped out and those teams that aren’t as efficient or strong pace-wise, like Jaguar, drown more easily.
Looking ahead
With only a handful of rounds remaining in season 11, Mitch Evans has run out of time to mount a real title challenge, but he can still salvage some strong results.
Jakarta is a good track for him, the Kiwi having won the inaugural race there in 2022 and taking a 3rd place finish in 2023. Berlin has given him mixed results over the years, with a 4th and a 6th place providing him with a strong points haul last season, and he has stood on the podium in the past four London E-Prix.
Despite Cassidy’s season going marginally better, Evans’ countryman will part ways with the team at the end of season 11 and is rumoured to be heading into the Stellantis fold. Whether Evans will follow him remains to be seen, but the championship hopeful is loyal to the bone and has been a constant at Jaguar since their Formula E debut in season 3.
Whether Evans chooses to stay with the team or not, there’s one clear thing: he needs an improvement in his results, or he runs the risk of being forever the champion that never was.
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