Difficult and disappointing race for Mahindra

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It was double points for Mahindra, but a disappointing race overall for the team.

Nick Heidfeld started and finished the race in ninth. Lucas Di Grassi’s disqualification moved that up a place to eighth, meaning the German won four championship points for the team. It was energy management that Heidfeld struggled with, costing him a higher place finish that he felt he deserved.

[pullquote align=”full” cite=”” link=”” color=”” class=”” size=””]“The difficulty today was energy management,” he said. “We saw that the pace of the car was good but I had to push and defend a lot in the first stint. I had to coast more than the cars around me which we are trying to understand at the moment because usually we are very strong on energy use in races. This meant I had to be careful with my energy strategy on the final laps but it was an enjoyable battle.”[/pullquote]

Team mate Bruno Senna also had a disappointing race. A spin in qualifying meant he started in sixteenth, ahead of only Nelson Piquet Junior, who also crashed on his qualifying run, and Antonio Felix Da Costa, who was serving a penalty.

The Brazilian made up a lot of places during the race, crossing the line in eleventh. Again, Di Grassi’s disqualification worked to Mahindra’s favour, bumping Senna up a place and winning him a single point.

[pullquote align=”full” cite=”” link=”” color=”” class=”” size=””]“I was always going to have a difficult race after my spin in qualifying, but that’s racing,” said Senna. “We had a strong set up and I believe we could have started and finished in a much higher position.”[/pullquote]

The double points puts Mahindra in fifth place in the championship, only eight points ahead of Amlin Andretti in sixth. Though the team has been making improvements, it has been slower progress than they would want, and Mahindra still lack the pace on the track.

“We expect to be competing closer to the front and scoring regular points in both cars,” said Team Principal Dilbagh Gill.

“The target for us is to improve our qualifying pace and hit the ground running in the second half of the season.”

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Image courtesy of FIA Formula E Media

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