Mercedes EQ Team Principal Ian James has described last weekend’s Mexico City E-Prix as a “character building” exercise following a double-DNF for his team
The German marque joined Formula E for the 2019/20 season following an exploratory campaign as HWA Racelab in Season 5 and tasted immediate success, taking back-to-back podiums in the double-header Diriyah E-Prix last November.
Racing at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez circuit on Saturday, however, Mercedes’ progress thus far unravelled when drivers Stoffel Vandoorne and Nyck de Vries failed to see the chequered flag.
When running in fifth after starting from third, a braking issue for de Vries forced the Dutchman into retirement while Vandoorne crashed out in Turn 3 on the penultimate lap when also running in the same position as his team mate.
“Emotions are still raw, even after the race has ended,” said James after the fourth race of the season. “Unfortunately, we leave Mexico with no points. Both drivers had incidents which took them out of the race.”
“It is what we can call a character-building experience for the whole team, which otherwise delivered a strong performance over the weekend. We now need to regroup and make sure we get our heads down for the next event.”
Vandoorne, who missed out on what could have been his fifth consecutive points finish in Formula E, lamented his Turn 3 mistake, however, remained confident that both he and Mercedes will bounce back in Marrakesh:
“After this race, I’m obviously very disappointed,” said the Belgian. “We’ve missed out on a lot of points. I was in fifth place when I had a tiny little moment off the line in Turn 3.
“After that, I had no chance of avoiding the wall. I feel incredibly sorry for the team, as we should have finished in the points on a day like this. But we’re not giving up and we’ll come back stronger in Marrakesh.”
De Vries added: “Unfortunately, my race ended in the wall. After it was over, I went to see the stewards about the incident. To me it felt like a technical issue that meant I was effectively a passenger in the car.
“I obviously still want to apologise for what happened out there, but the fact is that I was unable to stop the car. Anyway, my focus is now on the next race in Marrakesh.”
