The 2025 Monaco E-Prix double-header proved to be a significant milestone for Mahindra Racing, as the team secured their best combined result of the season with Nyck de Vries finishing on the podium in Race 1 and both drivers showcasing impressive pace throughout the weekend.
Nyck de Vries back on the podium
The iconic streets of Monaco provided the perfect backdrop for Mahindra’s strongest showing of the season, with Nyck de Vries driving brilliantly to claim second place behind race winner Oliver Rowland. His teammate Edoardo Mortara completed an excellent team performance by finishing fourth, split only by Jake Dennis’s Andretti.
De Vries showed his quality from the start, taking Ticktum for third place off the line and maintaining a strong pace throughout the race. Meanwhile, Mortara fought his way through the field to claim valuable points and demonstrate the team’s growing competitiveness.
A long time coming for Mahindra
For Team Principal Frederic Bertrand, these results weren’t a fluke but the culmination of a season-long process of improvement and development.
“Since the beginning of the season, as you know, the challenge from the beginning was, OK, let’s do a new car and let’s make sure that as quick as we can, we get the understanding of that car and we see how competitive we are,” Bertrand explained to the media, including Pit Debrief.
“So quickly we saw that we were on a good trend, because we were scoring points at each race, able to reach duels all the time, but what was definitely missing was that little thing which made the two cars coming very strongly during the race into the right position and on the podium, because that was definitely missing.”
The team’s performance in Monaco represented a significant breakthrough, with Bertrand adding, “The fact that it happens here is probably the kind of nice cherry on the cake, because for sure doing it in Monaco has a specific flavour.”
Fighting with the frontrunners
What impressed Bertrand most was the manner in which his drivers performed, with both showing the pace to mix it with the frontrunners.
“What was good is Nyck [De Vries] felt the pace to fight at the front and that’s something we already felt in Miami, that we were able to keep the pace of the Porsches,” he said. “That was already something we could feel, but here we were able to go with our own rhythm and then overtake even without attack mode the Andretti cars.”
“So he was really, really 100% on his race and Edo did the same from the back, coming from P9, even P11 and then coming back, building the race with good strategy.”
This consistent performance from both drivers has elevated Mahindra to third in the teams’ championship, although Bertrand was quick to downplay this achievement.
“That’s not the target, we were at P5. So let’s keep calm, and we’ll see where we are at the end of the season,” he cautioned when reminded that the team now sits third in the standings.
A change in approach for Mahindra after the Monaco E-Prix Race 1
Bertrand revealed that a shift in mentality has been key to Mahindra’s improved form.
“We are not so much focused on ‘let’s do a podium’. I think that was a mistake last year, how we need to score points. And then it was waiting, waiting and everybody was just focussing on the points and not on what was happening,” he explained.
“And what happened from the end of last year was the team was growing and being built properly. Now we are with a new car on the same trend of keep building the team and developing the level of confidence and developing slowly the level of ambition and the level of confidence brings additional confidence to the driver. So we are in that nice circle.”
The team’s driver line-up has been integral to this positive turnaround, with Bertrand commending both De Vries and Mortara for their alignment with the team’s philosophy.
“Having Nick and Edo definitely having agreed with that spirit from the beginning, now we are so happy for them because we can just give them a tool which is helping them to do good results, which is helping them to push a bit the boundaries, push their own limits because at one moment you need to agree to take the risks which are going with the car and that’s what is happening.”
The podium finish was “not an accident”
Bertrand was keen to emphasise that unlike previous sporadic successes, this result feels like part of a sustainable upward trajectory.
“What is good is that it’s something which comes not as an accident. If you remember when the first race I was nominated, we did a podium and nobody knew where it came from and by the way, we knew it came from nowhere. So now it’s not at all the same type of approach,” he said.
“We know that the things are coming because everything is getting into place and that we are delivering since the beginning of the season very constantly. This comes as a result, but it could be P5, P6 is the same, it’s P2, P4, it could be P1, P3. Right now, what we like is that the two guys are able to bring the car in the top 10 consistently with a high level of confidence and with management of the racing which is, I don’t want to say safe, but I would say robust.”
Monaco is always a special place to race
Bertrand also shared his thoughts on the racing in Monaco, praising the quality of the battles that characterised both races of the double-header.
“I think it’s part of Formula E to have those types of positions here. What we have seen is that with attack mode you can overtake. With attack mode it’s massive,” he said.
“So losing a minimum of places before taking attack mode. Losing if possible no position taking attack mode and then recovering a maximum when you have it is the goal. So after you need to make your way as good as possible or as nicely as possible.”
When asked about the specific battles his drivers faced, Bertrand offered a nuanced perspective.
“I think for me the race of Nyck [De Vries] was probably smoother than the one of Edo because Edo was involved in one or two big ones where he could have been the one in trouble, and finally, he has managed to survive through these moves.”
“I think what I like here in Monaco is that the way it goes is tough but good racing. So I think it would be a shame if Formula E was losing this.”
He noted that Race 1 had featured cleaner racing than in previous years.
“It’s much better than what we had the two previous years. I think the front wing is much stronger and makes the races a bit cleaner. You have a little bit less that idea of pushing from the back.”
Eyes on Tokyo
With their Monaco E-Prix performance boosting them to third in the championship standings, Mahindra now has momentum to carry forward into the remainder of the season. The team’s approach of focusing on process rather than results appears to be paying dividends, and both drivers are showing the pace and racecraft to compete at the front.
For Bertrand, the satisfaction comes not just from the podium and points, but from how they were achieved.
“I’m as happy from the result that I am from the way it is done, and I’m happier from the way it is obtained than the result themselves because the result will always come if we do well. And right now, everybody is in that nice direction of doing well, doing what he has to do properly and then, not by miracle but just by a matter of fact, things are coming into place and good results and good points.”
With the team having completed the Monaco E-Prix on a high note, Mahindra Racing appears to have found its groove at just the right time as they look ahead to the upcoming Tokyo round.
