DISAPPOINTING END TO MEXICO CITY EPRIX FOR MAHINDRA RACING
1 April 2017, Mexico City: After a promising start in the early stages, Mahindra Racing had a disappointing end to what was a thrilling race at the 2017 FIA Formula E Mexico City ePrix.
Both cars had everything to play for starting within the top 10 on the grid, with experienced German Nick Heidfeld in fourth and Swede Felix Rosenqvist in eighth.
Heidfeld got away cleanly from the grid and executed a perfect manoeuvre up the inside of competitor Jean-Eric Vergne at the first corner to take third place. A problem for race-leader Oliver Turvey promoted Heidfeld into second place, a position he maintained until the mid-race pit stop. However, in the scheduled swap to his second M3Electro, Heidfeld lost out on several places due to two competitors failing to respect the minimum pit-stop time.
Meanwhile, rookie Rosenqvist picked up two places at the start of the race, but was caught by championship leader Sebastien Buemi. Though initially planning to go a lap longer than the rest of the field, Rosenqvist was forced to pit on the same lap after being held up by the train of cars in front. He re-emerged just behind Heidfeld in eighth place.
The two Mahindra Racing drivers recovered to fifth and sixth, on track for a strong double-points finish, but it wasn’t meant to be.
In the closing stages of the race the team’s hard work was undone by Nico Prost’s contact with Heidfeld that sent him into a spin, facing oncoming traffic. Rosenqvist had nowhere to go, collided with his teammate’s number 23 M3Electro and was forced to retire two laps before the end of the race.
Heidfeld was eventually able to continue, but fell out of the points to finish in 12th position.
Mahindra Racing now returns to Europe for the summer period starting with the Monaco ePrix on Saturday 13 May, where once again the electric street racing of the FIA Formula E Championship promises exciting battles and plenty of points still on offer.