Beijing ePrix Ratings: Mahindra Racing

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Over the course of the season, ERN senior editor Laurence Thorn will be rating the performances of all drivers and teams on each ePrix weekend.

This time around, he takes a look at Mahindra Racing and their two drivers, Bruno Senna and Nick Heidfeld, in Beijing.

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Mahindra Racing – 8/10
Testing pace confirmed with first podium, but pit-stops need work

After fantastic pre-season pace, Mahindra Racing were confident of scoring some good points in Beijing. But with both cars qualifying in the top seven, and Nick Heidfeld surprising with the team’s first ever podium, the Indian squad surpassed even their own expectations in the season opener. Both Heidfeld and Bruno Senna showed great race pace and made some bold overtaking moves, with Heidfeld passing Nicolas Prost on the first corner of the first lap and Bruno Senna with his brave move on Jean-Eric Vergne at the end of that same lap. The M2 Electro also proved to be reliable and efficient in its first race outing. However, slow pit-stops for both drivers – Heidfeld was able to recover from his to finish third, but Senna was not and finished outside the points – show that the team still has some work to do before they can consider themselves a true front-runner. It will be fascinating to see how they do in Putrajaya next time out.

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Bruno Senna (qualified 7th, finished 13th) – 7/10
Promising pace but no points due to pit-stop issue

After finishing the previous season in London with a fourth place finish, Bruno Senna returned for the second Formula E season looking to score consistent results after an up-and-down first campaign. He qualified seventh in Beijing, just 0.2 seconds behind team-mate Heidfeld who made the Super Pole session. Senna made a strong start to the race, getting past Stephane Sarrazin before making a brave move on Jean-Eric Vergne to run fifth after just one lap. He maintained this position for the next nine laps, before being passed by Vergne and Loic Duval as he attempted to stick to an energy target. Senna was further passed by Sarrazin and Sam Bird, before being told to forget his energy target and push. He passed Bird before pitting from eighth – however had a disastrous stop, after which he came out last. He managed to battle back to 13th, but was unable to get into the points.

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Nick Heidfeld (qualified 3rd, finished 3rd) – 8.5/10
German driver grabs Mahindra’s first ever podium

After making the move from Venturi to Mahindra in the off-season, Heidfeld’s decision seemed to be vindicated when he qualified third on the grid. A sensational start saw him pass Nicolas Prost, in one of the pace-setting Renault e.Dams cars, at the first turn on lap one to run second. However, he was unable to keep pace with Prost’s team-mate Sebastien Buemi, and maintained his second position until the car swaps. At the stop, he suffered a delay and re-emerged in third, behind Lucas di Grassi, while Prost caught Heidfeld napping at a Full Course Yellow restart, passing the German and dropping him to fourth. However, after Prost was forced to retire, Heidfeld retook third position, which he would hold until the end of the race despite constant pressure from Dragon Racing duo Loic Duval and Jerome d’Ambrosio in the closing stages. After his first podium for Mahindra, Heidfeld will now focus on his next target: a maiden Formula E win.

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Images courtesy of FIA Formula E Media

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