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The Season 4 in the all-electric series has thrown open two new contenders for the Formula E constructors’ title with India’s Mahindra Racing and China’s Techeetah battling at the front for the first time in four years which usually had Renault and Audi fighting for the numero uno position.
Although DS Virgin has caught up with the Mahindra and Techeetah battle, with Audi and Jaguar not far off, but it bodes well for a new series with so many of the big manufacturers’ competing against each other for electric supremacy.
For Mahindra, it has been years of hard work. They were eighth in the first season with no wins or podiums, improved to fifth in Season 2 with the lone podium and finished third last year with one win and nine podiums - building up well for the current season.
While Team Principal Dilbagh Gill acknowledges that the performance was to come this season, however, he admits the title push is a bit of a ‘nice’ surprise for them as they didn’t expect that they will be in the hunt as early as this. But he insists that it has not been a ‘turnaround’ as such for the team.
“I don’t think we have had a turnaround, I think we have just evolved,” he said exclusively. “So, it is not turnaround. We started from nowhere in Season 1 and we sort of stated very clearly that Season 1 is for us to learn, Season 2 is to correct what we have learn in Season 1 and from Season 3 onward, we will start performing.
“So, if you go back what was said to exactly what has happened, so it has been a part of the strategy to grow. Yes, pushing for a potential championship in Season 4 is nice a bit. We didn’t expect ourselves to be here so quickly. So, I think we are in a good position and we have sort of achieved something which we didn’t expect to achieve in the first four years.”
While the team started off the 2017/18 season exceedingly well with Felix Rosenqvist winning two of the three races with Nick Heidfeld scoring a podium as well. However, things started to go down as Rosenqvist has had two retirements and Heidfeld three in the next five.
Agonisingly, the two retirements for Rosenqvist has happened from race lead, wherein he has lost out crucial points because of which he has dropped to third in the standings and now sits 37 points behind Jean-Eric Vergne, while Mahindra also is third with 49 points difference to Techeetah.
Gill knows of the reliability issues and says they will rectify it in the coming races to not let its drivers and the team down. Even though the situation right now is quite difficult for the Indian outfit after losing some crucial points, Gill thinks the team should still be appreciated for the job they have done and the achievements made in the journey.
“I think, let’s not jump ahead of ourselves,” he said, when asked if no less than a title will be a good result for them considering the way they have performed. “We know what our ambition is. We know what our stretch goals are but at the same time we have also to enjoy and appreciate what we have achieving right now.
“So, as long as we are putting our best effort, as long as we are performing at every track we get to, I would take that away because it is going to be long many years in Formula E and there’s a lot for us to build on to.
“At the same, yes, I think we can look back at Season 4 and say yes, we have an opportunity right and we would love to maximize our opportunity which we have,” he added. While Season 4 is the talking point, but work for Season 5 has already begun behind the scenes with the all-new Gen2 car.
“For now, it is single minded focus on Season 4. We have to optimise our focus on M4Electro, its development and giving the best possible opportunity to Nick and Felix [in the races]. In the background, yes, M5Electro is being developed.
“It has born healthy, so that’s the first good start. The powertrain seems to be ok from the first [private] test we did, but for the next three months or at least until the end of the championship, our focus is entirely, fully and squarely on Season 4,” he said.
The team has five races and four rounds to re-take the lead from Techeetah and finish in front of them - both in the drivers’ as well as the manufacturers’ championship and make history. The good thing for Mahindra is three of the four upcoming tracks have produced good results for the team in the past, while one of the four is brand new for everyone.
