After Nyck de Vries’s podium finish last time out in Sanya, Mahindra Formula E team arrives in Shanghai buoyed by the Dutchman’s strong result as they seek to climb up the championship standings.
Much needed return to the podium for de Vries in Sanya
Sanya served up chaos but ultimately Mahindra prevailed with Dutchman Nyck de Vries returning to the podium following his win in Monaco.
“It was great to come away from Sanya with a podium after such a chaotic race,” de Vries said after the race.
“It was a good reward for the work the team has been putting in throughout the season.”
De Vries’ upturn in form comes at an ideal time after a turbulent few races prior to Monaco which saw the ex-F1 driver score points in just one of five races.
A challenging few races has certainly been made up for with the Mahindra driver currently sitting tenth in the standings ahead of Shanghai. Despite his upturn in form, de Vries is aware of the different challenge Shanghai poses.
“Shanghai is a very different challenge,” he explained. “The circuit is faster and tends to produce quite strategic races, particularly with PIT BOOST.”
“The field is incredibly close, but we’ve shown recently that we have the pace to fight towards the front, and hopefully we can continue that momentum into this weekend.”
Nyck’s points allowed the Indian team to cement their third place in the Team’s standings. Currently on 162 points, Porsche remain just out of their grasp on 190 while Andretti are in hot pursuit on 136.
Mortara stays third as Formula E front-runners fail to score in Sanya
Edoardo Mortara can class himself as fortunate after the top four failed to score in Sanya, allowing the Swiss driver to cling onto third in the championship standings.
Despite glimmers of strong pace early on, the Mahindra driver failed to score, now having only scored points in one of the last three races.
Nevertheless, Mortara was quick to focus on the positives and the promising pace that was shown.
“The positive from Sanya was that our pace was very strong from the beginning of the weekend,” Mortara explained. “Unfortunately we weren’t able to convert that into the result we deserved. “
Putting the pointless race in Sanya behind him Mortara remained confident ahead of the return to Shanghai for Formula E.
“Now we move into another important event,” the Swiss driver said. “There are only a handful of races left this season and every point matters.”
“Shanghai has produced some very interesting races over the last two years. Our objective is to maximise the opportunities available across both days.”
Team principle Frederic Bertrand echoed his drivers views explaining Sanya left the team with “mixed feelings”.
“We showed excellent speed (in Sanya) but only partially converted it into points,” Bertrand said.
“Nyck’s podium demonstrated the potential of the package we currently have. Our focus now is on delivering three of the best race weekends possible.”
“Shanghai is a circuit that rewards good execution and a strong strategy, particularly with PIT BOOST on Saturday. We remain well positioned in both championships, but we know every detail will matter.”
