Progress made throughout the weekend in Jakarta for Mahindra Racing Formula E team

Roberto joined the team at the start of the weekend and was thrown in at the deep end, making his Formula E race debut at one of the hottest race events on the calendar. Taking it all in his stride, he set an aim at the start of the weekend of improving in every session, something he successfully achieved.

Both Roberto and Lucas Di Grassi struggled in qualifying on Saturday and started race one from 21st and 22nd on the grid. They both made progress, fighting through the grid with the pair ultimately finishing P14 and P18.

On Sunday, once again neither car progressed to the duels stage of qualifying, with Lucas starting P19 and Roberto P21 after a slightly improved session. A great start for the Mahindra pair saw them move up to P16 and P17 and also having a clean battle of their own, switching places during the early stages of the race. After progressing further up the field, Lucas running as high as 12th at one point in the race, the pair crossed the line P14 and P17.

After making his Formula E race debut, Roberto Merhi said: “It was a tough to start a race in the middle of the season because everyone is already at a certain level, so I had a lot of catching up to do coming here with no experience and no testing. It has been a good weekend with Mahindra though, who have really helped me get to grips with the championship and the car. I made a big improvement from yesterday to today. My qualifying today was much more positive. I can see that the team is pushing things forward.”

Working hard with the team to learn and progress the car, Lucas Di Grassi said: “It was not a good weekend. We tried everything we could and worked very hard day and night to try to score some points but sadly didn’t find that thing we needed to quite get there. It’s very frustrating and we need to go back home and analyse the data to understand what we need to do for the next race. I thought both races were actually alright. I pushed hard and didn’t make any major mistakes and overtook some cars, but starting that far back, we will always struggle to make significant progress. We now move on to Portland.”

Commenting on the rebuilding nature of this season, CEO Frederic Bertrand, said: “What a hot weekend in Jakarta! Of course, we would have hoped for more, but we now know that this season is turning into more of a learning and rebuilding year. Lucas did a great job making up multiple places during both races and Roberto settled into the team and the car more and more each session. It is the first time he has driven a car of this kind and I think he handled it really well. Of course, we still have a lot of work to do, and we don’t pretend that it is going to be an easy end to the season results wise, but thankfully our team has a good fighting spirit and we will not give up. We have the support from our partners and crucially, the wider Mahindra Group to make the necessary changes to bring Mahindra Racing back to the front of Formula E.”

The next event for Season 9 of the ABB FIA Formula E World Championship is another new event – the Southwire Portland E-Prix held on 24th June.

Mahindra Racing has a strong set of partners, including Official Powertrain Partner ZF and e-fluids partner Shell. Maurice Lacroix, the luxury Swiss watchmaker, continues as the Official Timekeeper.