Mahindra Racing hopes to move on from last season, with cautious optimism for 2024-25
Mahindra Racing has had a tough last five years in Formula E, especially since the Gen3 car was launched for the 2022-23 season. Ahead of the 11th season of the all-electric single-seater championship starting in December, the Indian manufacturer hopes to move up the grid and fight consistently in the mid-field.
In 2023-24, Mahindra started poorly before showing some promise towards the end of the year with some promising results but still finished 10th among 11 teams for the second consecutive year.
“We started to perform at the end of the season when we started to get the right momentum. We hope that we can start season 11 in the same manner and score points regularly,” said Team Principal and CEO Frederic Bertrand ahead of the launch of the new car on Tuesday.
“One of the expectations is additional efficiency so that we can start the race with more ambition because we are not limited by the idea that we will be too short in energy. That was one of the things driving a lot of our strategy last season, knowing that we were a few per cent down compared to the others when we were starting the race,” explained Bertrand.
“The second aspect is a little bit more, let’s say, good behaviour during certain driving phases so that the driver gets more confidence in how they can push the car’s limit,” he added.
Meanwhile, Mahindra driver Nyck de Vries expressed hope that the new parts will deliver gains for the next season.
“For this season, we are getting a new powertrain; it will be Gen 3.5. The hardware will be completely different, which has better potential with higher efficiency, better controls, and software. This gives us hope and confidence that we can make further progress for the coming season,” said the Dutch racer.