After a wet Formula E Miami E-Prix, Mahindra Racing moves up to third place in the Teams’ Championship as de Vries and Mortara secure double-points.
Round 3 of Season 12 took place at the Miami International Autodrome, where drivers tackled the 2.32-kilometre circuit for the first time. The weekend started off with a Rookie Free Practice where Chloe Chambers took the wheel of the Mahindra M12Electro, before FE drivers headed out on track for FP1, FP2, and qualifying.
During qualifying, de Vries and Mortara found themselves in Group A, with de Vries making it to the duals while Mortara settled for a P16 start after making contact with Buemi. In the duals, de Vries claimed victory over Cassidy before moving to the semifinal, which he lost against Müller. Therefore, the Dutchman lined up P4 on the grid.
Throughout the race, both Mahindra Racing drivers struggled with the tricky conditions and generating tyre temperatures. However, ultimately, de Vries claimed P5 and Mortara P6.
De Vries happy with P5 result
De Vries claimed his P5 through a strong strategy of using Attack Mode early in the race, before taking his second round on Lap 37. With this strategy, de Vries recorded his best race finish of the 2025/26 season so far, having previously taken P9 in São Paulo and a DNF in Mexico City.
Speaking about his result, de Vries said, “Overall it was a solid weekend. We as a team can be satisfied with the points we’ve been able to secure here in Miami. After running at the front earlier in the race and after a strong qualifying, we were maybe hoping for a little bit more but we didn’t quite have the pace. But it is a decent score to take away from here in Miami after a tricky start to the season.”
“It is a pretty short turnaround to Jeddah, and my focus is already shifting towards the doubleheader there,” he said, with the Jeddah E-Prix set for February 13th and 14th. “There will be a lot of points on offer throughout that weekend and with the championship and field so tight I hope it will be a good opportunity for us to continue where we leave here.”
Mortara: “the right moves at the right time”
On the other side, teammate Edoardo Mortara used a different strategy of leaving Attack Mode until later in the race. Throughout the Miami E-Prix, Mortara gained ten crucial positions after a difficult qualifying that left him in P16. He ultimately claimed P6 on the penultimate lap as he made his way past da Costa.
“The finish was quite good for us after what was turning into a pretty frustrating day after what happened in qualifying,” he said. “Not being able to set a representative lap time, which I think would have been enough to get into the Duels, was disappointing. I hope that in the future we will not have this situation again.”
“The race was actually quite good. Starting from P16, we managed to climb up 10 positions, having quite decent pace. We had quite a good strategy and made the right moves at the right time.”
“It wasn’t really easy because the conditions are always very tricky when it’s wet and slippery, but we managed to execute well and I’m very happy that both cars scored some points for the team.”
Chambers secures P10
In the Rookie Free Practice, Chloe Chambers placed 10th, ahead of Abbi Pulling, to gain valuable data for Mahindra racing ahead of the E-Prix.
Reflecting on her second opportunity in the GEN3 Evo, Chambers said, “My experience with the rookie free practice was really nice. It was just good to be back in the car. It was just a 40-minute free practice session, so just getting through the run plan cleanly is what the main goal was, to hopefully give some good feedback back to the team to prepare for the weekend. I think I was able to execute all of it.”
“The lap times don’t tell the entire story, so I think relative to my experience level versus a lot of the guys that I was out on track with my performance was pretty decent I’d say. For sure there are things that I can take with me but overall I would say it was a positive session. I really enjoy working with the team every time and can’t wait to hopefully get another go at it soon,” she concluded.
Bertrand pleased with results and effort
When piecing together the Miami E-Prix and the team’s results, Mahindra Racing’s Team Principal and CEO Frederic Bertrand shared, “For us it was a good weekend in general but mostly on the team building side, because it was a very difficult and challenging event. We had a new track, tough and changeable conditions with the temperature and weather forecast being wet, dry and everything in between.”
“It was very difficult for the team to find the right setup for making the drivers happy and on the drivers’ side it was a challenge for them to adapt and not lose the confidence and they managed that so well.”
“In the race, nobody gave up with the very changeable conditions with the rain appearing for the first time this weekend. It was so good to see that both drivers made the best out of the car. They were conditions which were not necessarily easy for us but we managed well with both cars.”
He further highlighted: “The goal for us is to score consistent points at each race and we managed it here. I’m happy not just with the result but the way we obtained it. In the changeable conditions, nobody gave up and we managed to deliver a good result for the team.”
