Mahindra Racing

This article is about the race team Mahindra Racing. For the manufacturer see this article: Mahindra & Mahindra.

Mahindra Racing
Team Information
Based	Mumbai, India
Début	2014 Beijing ePrix
Founder	Unknown
Key People	Anand Mahindra; Dilbagh Gill; S. P. Shukla
Driver(s)	Alexander Sims (No. 29) Oliver Rowland (No. 30) Alex Lynn Jérôme d'Ambrosio Pascal Wehrlein Nick Heidfeld Felix Rosenqvist
Car	Mahindra M7Electro
Sponsor(s)	Unknown
Website	Mahindra Racing
Team Stats
Last Season	9th (132 pt(s))
Entries	100
Wins	5
First Win	2017 Berlin ePrix I
Points	868
Poles	9
Podiums	23
Fastest Laps	8
Titles	3rd (2016/17)
Current Season
Entrant	Mahindra Racing
Nyck de Vries		Edoardo Mortara
– (0 Pt(s))		21st (9 Pt(s))
Team Standings
10th (41 Pt(s))

Mahindra Racing are an Indian based team, who compete in the 2021/22 ABB FIA Formula E World Championship with Alexander Sims and Oliver Rowland as their drivers. The official team of car manufacturer Mahindra & Mahindra, Mahindra Racing are a founding member of the Formula E Championship, and race cars built by the Indian car manufacturer.

Mahindra are among the more successful FE teams in its short history, with several wins to their name courtesy of the efforts of former driver Felix Rosenqvist. Indeed, Rosenqvist would start the fourth FE season as a title contender, only for both himself and Mahindra to fade during the season, while teammate Nick Heidfeld opted to retire from the series at the end of 2017/18.

2018/19 would see a whole new driver line-up for Mahindra, signing d'Ambrosio to partner F1 refugee Wehrlein as Rosenqvist moved to IndyCar. d'Ambrosio duly picked up his maiden win for the team at the 2019 Marrakech E-Prix, although other than some exuberant performances from Wehrlein the Indian effort would fail to threaten the Championship hunt.

The d'Ambrosio-Wehrlein partnership was retained for the 2019/20 season, with Wehrlein narrowly missing the podium in the third race. Wehrlein and Mahindra duly parted ways during the enforced break due to the Covid-19 Pandemic, with Alex Lynn completing the season for the Indian squad.

For 2020/21 the Mahindra squad would retain Sims' and Lynn's services, aiming to return to the podium with their new powertrain. Sims and Lynn would both stand on the podium in the opening six races, before Lynn delivered the squad's first win in two seasons with victory at the 2021 London E-Prix II.

Background

Mahindra Racing were formed in 2011, intending to compete in the FIM Moto GP championship as a manufacturer. A part of the Mahindra Reva Company, Mahindra Racing have experience with electric cars, and intend to use the Formula E championship as a development programme for their own projects.

Formula E History

Mahindra Racing began the construction on their own car during the inaugural 2014/15 season, intending to run their own powertrain during the following 2015/16 campaign. However, the team used the Spark-Renault SRT_01E as their car for the season as per the regulations, with Karun Chandhok and Bruno Senna as their drivers. After promising results for both in the early stages of the season, the Team's hopes of a strong season were set, with the 2015 Long Beach ePrix seeing them sit in sixth, and form seemingly on their side, despite Chandhok and Senna not scoring in the same weekend to that point.

But it was not to be, however, as luck and pace deserted both Senna and Chandhok over the following races, with no points scored in the following four races. Their luck finally returned in the season ending 2015 London ePrix II, with Senna taking fourth in the race, and proving instrumental in Nelson Piquet Jr.'s title charge. Mahindra ended the series' début season in eighth, but safe in the knowledge that luck had not been on their side throughout.

Manufacturing Marque

Parent company Mahindra & Mahindra obtained manufacturer status for the 2015/16 edition of the Championship during the first season, and immediately persuaded McLaren to develop a powertrain for them. The evolved version of the powertrain from 2014/15 was bolted into the minor modifications that Mahindra were allowed to make to the Spark-Renault SRT_01E and christened the M2Electro. The team also managed to secure the services of Nick Heidfeld for the season, with Chandhok leaving the team, while Senna would be retained.

After running a successful programme at the 2015 Donington Test, Heidfeld produced an excellent performance at the season opening race in Beijing to finish in third, despite a poor pitstop which ultimately cost the German second. Putrajaya saw both Senna and Heidfeld score, before a dismal weekend in Punta del Este saw Oliver Rowland replace an injured Heidfeld, although both Rowland and Senna failed to score. The following rounds went better for the team with double points scores in every race until the end of the season, the team's strongest display coming at the 2016 Long Beach ePrix with a fourth-fifth finish.

The season finale in London saw the team take another podium, this time courtesy of Senna's efforts in the 2016 London ePrix I. Having produced the team's best result in qualifying, Senna was able to breakaway from the pack with race leader Nicolas Prost at the start to cruise to the podium, with Heidfeld down in eighth. The pair went on to score a sixth-seventh finish in the season finale, with their two drivers ending the season a point apart in the overall standings.

Swedish Support

Senna left the team at the end of the 2015/16 season, allowing Mahindra to bring in youngster Felix Rosenqvist to partner Heidfeld for the 2016/17 season. The pair debuted the Mahindra M3 Electro at the 2016 Donington Test, with the car proving to be a mid-pack runner once again.

The Fourth Wall

Both Heidfeld and Rosenqvist would be retained by the factory Mahindra squad for 2017/18, with both taking part in the 2017 Valencia Test, although Heidfeld's car would be loaned to Daniel Juncadella for one of the three days. Yet, Heidfeld would go on to enjoy a successful start to the season, claiming third in the first race in Hong Kong E-Prix, before Rosenqvist claimed victory in the second race. Indeed, Rosenqvist's victory, which came after the disqualification of Daniel Abt, would see Mahindra top the Championship at the end of the opening round, with the Swede also claiming pole and fastest lap.

Mahindra's good form carried over into Marrakech, with Rosenqvist again claiming victory, and the Championship lead, while Heidfeld scored solid points. The team then handed Juncadella another drive in their cars, partnering him with Sam Dejonghe for the 2018 Rookie Test, with Dejonghe also signed to be the team's development driver. Rosenqvist and Heidfeld then returned to take part in the 2018 Santiago E-Prix, although both Rosenqvist and Mahindra would lose their leads in their respective Championships as the Swede finished fourth, while Heidfeld retired.

It was from the Santiago E-Prix on wards that Mahindra's campaign began to unravel, with Heidfeld going on to retire in the following two races, while being further plagued by mechanical issues throughout. Rosenqvist would also suffer, with the Swede claiming pole at both the Mexico City and Rome E-Prix, only to retire with battery and suspension failures respectively. Rosenqvist then picked up a handful of points in Paris as Heidfeld struggled for pace, before the pair fought for the final point in Berlin as their title hopes came to a premature end. Indeed, it would take until the final race in New York City for the team to achieve a double score again, by which stage Mahindra had slipped to fourth in the Teams' Championship.

Favour of Fortune

Heidfeld would leave the Mahindra squad ahead of the 2018/19 season, while Rosenqvist was actively evaluating an offer to join the Verizon Indy Car Series for 2019, meaning Mahindra would have to replace one if not both of their drivers for the fifth FE season. They ultimately decided to hire Dragon reject Jérôme d'Ambrosio for the campaign, before sweeping in to sign ex-Mercedes backed Formula One racer Pascal Wehrlein to partner the Belgian, although it was later revealed that Felix Rosenqvist would stand-in for the German at the opening round as contractual issues prevented Wehrlein from taking part. Regardless, Mahindra would perform admirably during the 2018 Valencia Test, with Wehrlein marginally the quicker out of himself and d'Ambrosio having tested the car prior to the public test.

Mahindra's season started strongly, with d'Ambrosio claiming his maiden podium for the team at the season opening round in Ad Diriyah, although Rosenqvist retired early on with damage. d'Ambrosio subsequently took victory in Marrakech after inheriting the lead late on when the two BMW-Andrettis crashed out of the lead, although he would have to resist a late challenge from the two Envision Virgins. Wehrlein, meanwhile, would endure a miserable debut weekend in Marrakech, getting taken out at the start by Lucas di Grassi.

Yet, Wehrlein would bounce back to claim his maiden podium finish in the next round at Santiago, having battled for victory in the closing stages with Sam Bird. The German rookie followed that up with pole position for the 2019 Mexico City E-Prix, a race that he would lead from the start through to the final corner, where upon he ran out of energy. Indeed, a dramatic last lap battle saw Wehrlein cut a chicane while fighting with di Grassi, only for the Brazilian to snatch victory on the run to the line as Wehrlein's energy reserves ran out. A five second time penalty was later handed to the German rookie for his chicane antics, dumping him back down to sixth.

Mahindra's momentum would, however, be completely wiped out by an opening lap accident in Hong Kong, with both Wehrlein and d'Ambrosio getting terminally entangled in Felipe Nasr's accident at the chicane. They duly bounced back to claim sixth and seventh in the following Sanya E-Prix, before both claiming minor points in Rome. That, however, would effectively be that for d'Ambrosio, the Belgian racer's title hopes evaporating over the following rounds as he entered a four race pointless streak.

Wehrlein, meanwhile, would once again impress at the Monte Carlo E-Prix, claiming second on the grid and fighting hard with Jean-Éric Vergne for the lead, only for a small mistake to dump him back to fourth mid-race. An anonymous run to tenth at his home race in Berlin followed, before Wehrlein again threatened a podium finish in Bern, having initially been pushed into the barriers at the start of the race, causing a red flag. Yet, an electrical failure mid-race would leave Wehrlein on the sidelines, and end his slim hopes of challenging for the title ahead of the season finale in New York City.

Indeed, Mahindra's season came to an undramatic conclusion in New York, with both d'Ambrosio and Wehrlein scoring in the first race, before missing out in the second. That left them in sixth in the Championship with 125 points to their credit, while d'Ambrosio and Wehrlein scored eleventh and twelfth in the Drivers' Championship.

ZF Partnership: 2019/20

For the 2019/20 season, the team once again fielded d'Ambrosio and Wehrlein and entered into a technical partnership with ZF, who had previously partnered with Venturi, with the aim of the German engineering company manufacturing the team's powertrain for the 2020/21 season. The otherwise unchanged effort performed well at the 2019 Valencia Test, with Wehrlein setting the second fastest outright time while also showing strong race pace.

Sims Support: 2020/21

For 2020/21, as the FE Championship became a World Championship, Mahindra secured the services of Alexander Sims as the British driver left the factory supported BMW-Andretti squad. He would be joined by Alex Lynn for the campaign as the younger British pilot re-signed with the squad for whom he had completed the 2019/20 season with.

Eighth Edition: 2021/22

Mahindra would remain in FE for the final campaign of the Spark SRT05e era, with Sims partnered by Oliver Rowland for the 2021/22 season after the latter left the Nissan e.Dams squad to join the Indian effort.

Formula E Record

The tables below show Mahindra Racing's full record in the FIA Formula E Championship.

Formula E Entries

The table below gives an overview of Mahindra Racing's entries in Formula E:

Mahindra Racing's overall Formula E Record
Season	Official name	No.	Drivers	DC Pos.	DC Pts.	Car	TC Pos.	TC Pts.
2014/15	Mahindra Racing	5	Karun Chandhok	17th	18	Spark-Renault SRT_01E	8th	58
		21	Bruno Senna	10th	40
2015/16	Mahindra Racing	21	Bruno Senna	11th	52	Mahindra M2Electro	5th	105
		23	Nick Heidfeld	10th	53
		23	Oliver Rowland	21st	0
2016/17	Mahindra Racing	19	Felix Rosenqvist	3rd	127	Mahindra M3Electro	3rd	215
		23	Nick Heidfeld	7th	88
2017/18	Mahindra Racing	19	Felix Rosenqvist	6th	96	Mahindra M4Electro	4th	138
		23	Nick Heidfeld	11th	42
2018/19	Mahindra Racing	64	Jérôme d'Ambrosio	11th	67	Mahindra M5Electro	6th	125
		94	Pascal Wehrlein	12th	58
		94	Felix Rosenqvist	NC	0
2019/20	Mahindra Racing	64	Jérôme d'Ambrosio	16th	19	Mahindra M6Electro	9th	49
		94	Pascal Wehrlein	18th	14
		TBA	Alex Lynn	17th	16
2020/21	Mahindra Racing	29	Alexander Sims	19th	54	Mahindra M7Electro	9th	132
		94	Alex Lynn	12th	78
2021/22	Mahindra Racing	29	Alexander Sims	17th	14	Mahindra M7Electro	8th	46
		30	Oliver Rowland	14th	32

Career Results

Listed below are the full career results of Mahindra Racing:

FIA Formula E Championship Record
Year	Driver	Rounds																Pos.	Pts.
		1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16
2014/15																		8th	58
	Chandhok	5th	6th	13th	Ret	14th	12th	13th	18th	12th	12th	13th
	Senna	Ret	14th	6th	5th	Ret	5th	Ret	17th	16th	16th	4th
2015/16																		5th	105
	Senna	13th	5th	Ret	10th	10th	5th	9th	15th	CAN	2nd	6th
	Heidfeld	3rd	9th	INJ	7th	8th	4th	12th	7th	CAN	8th	7th
	Rowland			13th						CAN
2016/17																		3rd	215
	Heidfeld	3rd	9th	15th	12th	3rd	3rd	3rd	10th	Ret	3rd	Ret	5th
	Rosenqvist	15th	3rd	18th	16th	6th	4th	1st	2nd	15th	2nd	9th	2nd
2017/18																		4th	138
	Heidfeld	3rd	16th	7th	Ret	Ret	Ret	16th	11th	10th	6th	6th	8th
	Rosenqvist	14th	1st	1st	4th	Ret	5th	Ret	8th	11th	15th	14th	5th
2018/19																		6th	125
	d'Ambrosio	3rd	1st	10th	4th	Ret	6th	8th	17th	11th	17th	13th	9th	11th
	Rosenqvist	Ret
	Wehrlein		Ret	2nd	6th	Ret	7th	10th	10th	4th	10th	Ret	7th	12th
2019/20																		9th	49
	d'Ambrosio	9th	DNS	NC	10th	13th	5th	DSQ	7th	15th	16th	18th
	Wehrlein	11th	15th	4th	9th	22nd
	Lynn						12th	11th	17th	9th	5th	8th
2020/21																		9th	132
	Sims	7th	15th	Ret	2nd	DSQ	23rd	Ret	4th	Ret	Ret	6th	Ret	16th	17th	5th
	Lynn	Ret	Ret	8th	17th	DSQG	3rd	9th	10th	6th	11th	9th	3rd	1stG	20th	13th
2021/22																		8th	46
	Sims	14th	Ret	Ret	12th	Ret	11th	9th	18th	15th	14th	14th	4th	13th	11th	Ret	12th
	Rowland	Ret	8th	16th	Ret	Ret	Ret	11th	7th	Ret	10th	13th	14th	Ret	Ret	2nd	Ret

Results Key
Symbol	Meaning		Symbol	Meaning
1st	Winner		Ret	Retired
2nd	Second		DSQ	Disqualified
3rd	Third		DNS	Did Not Start
7th	Points Finish		16th	Non-Points Finish
NC	Not Classified		CAN	Race Cancelled
INJ	Driver Injured		Italics	Fastest Lap
Bold	Pole Position		G	Group Fastest Lap

References

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