After the exclusive event to unveil the new car at the team’s Banbury headquarters, the words of Nyck de Vries, Edoardo Mortara and CEO and Team Principal, Frederic Bertrand.
“Nyck, Edo – we’re here at the launch of Mahindra Racing’s brand-new Season 11 car, at the very beginning of Formula E’s Gen3 Evo era. What are your thoughts?”
EM: “It’s an exciting time for the team. Last season was all about putting down strong foundations for the future, and with the new Gen3 Evo car, we have a chance now to build on that, and to keep improving.”
NDV: “It’s been a busy off-season for the whole team, everybody’s been flat out to try and maximise this opportunity that a new car gives us. Events like this, when you see the car in its livery and bring everyone together, suddenly make it feel like the season isn’t so far away. Hopefully it’s going to a good one!”
“You’ve both had an opportunity to test the new car. How does it feel to drive?”
NDV: “So far, I’ve had one day in Mallorca, which was generally positive. The tyres bring quite a significant step in performance, they have more performance, but different characteristics.
“I think, from a general car operations point of view, we’ve made further steps from how we ended last season. I don’t think the car will feel drastically different, the fundamentals are the same, but we hope to have gained some efficiency, and we’ve fine-tuned our software systems a little bit. But we’re still in the process of testing and developing, especially around the new regulations and the implications of them.”
EM: “It feels good! The four-wheel drive is definitely something different, compared to last year. It feels nicer to drive, with more power and more grip available, which makes it quicker. We’ll see how it impacts on the races, combined with the improved tyres, so I think it’ll be an enjoyable car to drive. I’m looking forward to racing with it.”
“Nyck, the team made great steps forward last season. What’s the realistic ambition, this time around?”
NDV: “Frankly speaking, I don’t know – it’s impossible to know what our competition are doing. We’ve seen quite some changes from Season 9 to Season 10, especially across the Jaguar and Porsche teams. There’s been a shift between the customer versus the manufacturer teams.
“So, it’s very challenging to predict and forecast what the picture looks like. There are no weak teams on this grid, so the competition is only going to get more and more difficult, but I believe we are on the right track.
“What is realistic, I genuinely couldn’t say at this point.”
“Nyck, what sort of style racing do you think we can expect this new car, and the changes to the format, to produce? Will it be different to Gen3?”
NDV: “The race strategy will likely change a little bit, the impact of having four-wheel drive in Attack Mode is going to be greater, so we expect to gain more lap time and performance when we’re activating it. It will be a tool that can be used to make up positions, whereas I feel in the last two seasons, with the style of racing, it was more something you wanted to get rid of.
“Having said that, the tyre degradation is quite significant, so we have to take that into account as well and see how we put those two aspects together to execute a strong race.”
“And, looking ahead to Valencia, what is the focus for the team across that week of collective testing?”
EM: “Like always during testing, the goal is to learn as much as we can with the new car. It’s going to be challenging, given the number of new factors to consider, but it seems to me that the team has done its homework, a lot of mileage during testing and so far, everything’s been going well. Let’s see where we stand against our competitors.”
NDV: “I’m honestly really looking forward to getting our new season underway. It’s been a while, aside from the one test day so far. We’re heading into launch week, a lot of test days and Valencia, so it’s always exciting to get towards a new season again.
“Valencia is a little bit more relevant than it used to be, as we’re moving into more and more permanent race tracks, so we will be able to learn things that will be relevant to our season, and I’m sure that, at times, people will be look for a little bit of performance. But ultimately, the priority is to get ready for Sao Paolo.”
“Thanks, both. Fred, coming to you now – you’ve had 18 months now at the team. Mahindra Racing has made plenty of changes – and progress – in that time. What opportunity does Gen3 Evo represent to make that next step?”
FB: “It’s definitely been a busy time for the whole team, because we know that with every regulation change in Formula E comes an opportunity to move up the field. Last season was all about putting a framework for success in place; not just hiring two world-class drivers but optimising our engineering and performance departments so that they are able to extract the maximum possible. We started to see the benefits of that towards the end of last season, and I’m hoping Season 11 will be a continual improvement from that.”
“This has always been billed as a long-term project, to bring Mahindra Racing back to the front in Formula E. What can fans expect from the team this season?”
FB: “The key will be understanding where we are relative to the competition, and Valencia is absolutely crucial for that. We know that we have taken a step forward, but the question is whether everybody else has, too. Once we have that understanding of the pecking order – or at least an idea – then we can start to plan our goals and objectives accordingly. But we want to be fighting for points on a regular basis, as a minimum.”
Source: Mahindra
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