[21st May 2016, Berlin] Mahindra Racing leaves the German capital having scored points with both drivers. Nick Heidfeld finished the race in P7 scoring six points while Bruno Senna recorded the fastest lap of the race, earning a further two Championship points.
Race day in Berlin was full of mixed emotions as both Mahindra Racing cars qualified for the top five Super Pole shoot-out, with Bruno Senna achieving his best ever qualifying result of P2. Following the Super Pole, Senna and Heidfeld were due to start the Berlin ePrix in P4 & P5.
During post qualifying scrutineering, tyre pressures on both cars were found to be fractionally lower than the minimum required by the stewards and Bruno and Nick’s qualifying times were cancelled forcing them to start the Berlin ePrix in P15 and P16 respectively.
Nick Heidfeld showed his confidence in the car from the very beginning, performing multiple overtakes during the early laps, gaining nine positions in his first stint. A safety car in the final laps of the race just prevented him from completing a final overtake using his FanBoost energy and he crossed the finish line in P7.
#23 Nick Heidfeld said: "This has been an intense race day for the whole team. We showed in qualifying this morning that the M2Electro was really suited to this circuit and it was wonderful to have both cars qualify for the Super Pole. Unfortunately we had to start the race from very far back due to the penalty but I am happy with how well we recovered.”
“I enjoyed my home ePrix and it was great to feel confident in the car and be able to really push to gain positions. Our race strategy and pit stops were good and it was very satisfying to go wheel-to-wheel with other drivers and have some fun overtaking on the track, especially in front of a home crowd.”
Bruno Senna’s car suffered a damaged nose cone in the early laps of his race and came back to the garage to change it, putting him out of contention for a competitive result, and so set his sights on securing the fastest lap, which he achieved in the closing stages of the race, scoring two Championship points.
#21 Bruno Senna said: “We have had a great weekend here in Berlin. I found our qualifying pace very encouraging and the car felt great. If we had not had this grid penalty I feel we could have fought for a podium today. The nose cone change put us out of contention very early in the race which compromised any chance of a competitive race finish.”
“We switched our strategy to give us the energy to fight for the fastest lap on the second stint. This was hard to achieve as we hadn’t set the downforce of the second car for this type of strategy but it paid off. I am happy to come away with the fastest lap and some points for the team who have worked so hard to achieve these high levels of performance.”
Dilbagh Gill, Team Principal of Mahindra Racing Formula E Team, said: “We are seeing a regular, consistently fast pace in recent races. In qualifying today, we also got both drivers into the Super Pole and in the race we saw lots of overtaking and also came away with the fastest lap.”
“While it is great to score good points in these circumstances, it still hurts to know that we missed a key opportunity to fight for the podium today. I can’t fault our approach, however. We performed well in every part of our race day. We knew what we needed to do in the race to make a success of this tricky day.”
Mahindra Racing retains fifth position in the Team Standings with two races remaining this season. The season finale double-header takes place in Battersea Park, London on the 2nd and 3rd of July.