The Mahindra Racing Formula E team have had a decent start to their campaign but frustrations are high as many more points could have been on the board.
With one of the friendliest driver line ups on the grid in Indian Karun Chandhok and the ever popular Brazilian Bruno Senna the team already had a high profile in pre-season testing. Managed by the Carlin Racing team who run constructors in GP2, GP3 and Indy lights to name a few, the Indian car manufacturer team was looking poised to be a title contender.
The first ePrix in Beijing saw Senna set the fastest lap of the weekend in free practice. However, he suffered electronic issues in qualifying meaning he failed to set a lap time. But, it wasn’t all bad news for the team as Chandhok qualified a superb fourth on the grid. With a FanBoost in hand Senna made an excellent start, unfortunately he was forced up onto some very high sleeping policeman bumps as he dived down the inside of a corner which led to him retiring. Mahindra had cause for optimism however with fast practice and qualifying laps to show as well as Chandhok netting a solid 10 points with a fifth place finish.
An uneventful qualifying saw Chandhok and Senna lineup in sixth and ninth respectively on the Putrajaya grid. Once again Senna was given a FanBoost which he used perfectly to execute a deja vu moment on e.Dams driver Nico Prost. After the pits, Senna found himself in third and Chandhok down the field after a botched stop. The last lap saw Senna pushing to catch the Abt car of Lucas di Grassi only to find it was all for nothing. Approaching the hairpin, Bruno went wide, lost grip on the marbles and smashed into the wall, leaving Putrajaya pointless while Chandhok picked up the pieces with a sixth place finish. The pressure was on for Senna to get some points on the board as Formula E headed to Punta del Este.
Senna had the best qualifying of the season lining up eighth on the gird. However, a team infringement whereby they were working on his car less than five minutes before qualifying meant he was sent to the back of the grid, promoting his teammate to tenth. The race was one of the most exciting yet with Senna blasting his way through the field. However, after a brush with the wall Chandhok was forced to pit early, leading him to fall way back through the field. Meanwhile and intense battle in the midfield saw Matthew Brabham crash out right in front of Stephanne Sarrazin and the chasing Senna who to avoid the totalled Andretti Car, bumped the wall hard, breaking his suspension. Nevertheless, he was due to pit that lap and pelted back to the pits with the TV footage picking up some skilful driving of Senna putting full right lock into his steering wheel while heading down the back straight. He made it back to the pits, changed cars and with the help of the safety car found himself still well into the points. The laps went on as did the crashes but finally Senna brought the car home in a solid sixth position, picking up eight valuable points while Chandhok limped home with a sick car in 13th.
The final round before the break saw Senna win back the fans by securing one of the FanBoost votes. But yet again he found himself starting last in Buenos Aires after an electronic and traffic issue in qualifying while Chandhok lined up tenth. The race kicked off with both cars moving up positions. A few laps in and Senna was picking off his challengers while Chandhok was fighting in the midfield only to experience a suspension failure and forced to retire. A confusing safety car period saw Senna forced to wait at the end of the pit late after his stop, however once the pack was reshuffled he had worked his way up to the lower end of the points. Crashes ahead between Abt, Vergne and Alguesuari saw Senna catch up. A fantastic move on Vergne saw Senna into fifth place. He held onto it for one more lap which was all that was needed even though Vergne clamoured into his Mahindra car on the second to last corner.
Now level on points Chandhok and Senna find themselves in tenth and 11th in the drivers championship while Mahindra lie seventh. Although it looks like any championship is out of the question, with both drivers on form after reliability issues, some podiums look set to be on the horizon as Formula E approaches Miami. One things for sure is that these two drivers backed by the experienced British motorsport heads at Carlin will be ones to fear next season if their current trend continues.
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