NEXTEV leave Mexico pointless

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NEXTEV showed surprising pace in the morning of the Mexico ePrix, but it wasn’t something they could put into practice when it came to qualifying and the race. Poor qualifying, including a spectacular crash from Piquet, meant the team had a lot to work on during the race, and pace hasn’t been NEXTEV’s strong point so far this season.

[pullquote align=”left” cite=”” link=”” color=”” class=”” size=””]“It was a challenging day, but there were positives,” said Steven Lu, NEXTEV Team Principal. “Both drivers did well in the morning practice session, but unfortunately qualifying did not go well for either driver. There was no big drama in the race, both drivers did well to keep the pace and we got close to scoring points. This was always going to be a tricky circuit for us and we are confident that we will do better at the next round at Long Beach.”[/pullquote]

After a strong free practice for Turvey, the Brit would have been quite disappointed with his fifteenth place start. Turvey had a poor start, falling back to seventeenth. Though he was slowly able to move back up the field, it wasn’t until the pit stop that he managed to jump up to thirteenth.

“We had a really strong free practice this morning and were quick, but in qualifying the car felt completely different and that really affected the race,” said Turvey. “We had a decent first stint and showed good energy management again, which allowed us to run an extra lap. But it was so difficult to overtake in the second stint that after I passed de Silvestro it was just a case of finishing the race.”

NEXTEV’s battery management is something to praise them for. Both drivers were able to stay out longer than the rest of the field. Coupling that with a good pit stop, the team was able to make up places that their lack of pace lost them through clever strategy.

For once, the long first stint strategy worked for Piquet. After a disaster of a morning – in which he locked up at the first turn of his qualifying run and smashed through the barrier – Piquet was started from the back of the grid and couldn’t really improve until the midrace car swap, where he emerged fourteenth. The extra energy he had from the late pit stop allowed him to keep the place and cross the line in fourteenth.

“The race didn’t really change much in terms of performance,” said Piquet. “Overtaking was more difficult here which made a bit of a difference. It was still a challenging track so that was good. Mexico brought a good show here, the fans were so enthusiastic and it was great to see such a good crowd.”

Even with the strategy working, it was still a pointless race for NEXTEV. The team still lie at the bottom of the championship, with only a total of fourteen points in five races. Turvey says Long Beach should suit the car better but, if things don’t change for the team soon, there’s little chance they’ll gain places in the teams’ championship.

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Image courtesy of FIA Formula E Media

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