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Expect the unexpected. Foresee the unforeseeable. At the Hyderabad E-Prix, Formula E reminded all of its status as motorsport’s most unpredictable category.
From the highs of qualifying to the lows of the race, the series’ inaugural event in India dealt a bittersweet blow, yet renewed hope and optimism underscored such disappointment.
Our best qualifying of the season was succeeded by a streak of misfortune, but determination prevailed on the road to recovery, and the route to the top 10.
Using insights from Hewlett Packard Enterprise, Maserati MSG Racing Team Principal, James Rossiter, debriefs the inaugural Hyderabad E-Prix.
“Although our weekend in Hyderabad didn’t go in the direction that we hoped it would, there are quite a few positives that we can take,” explains James.
“From qualifying and into the race, I think we showed a real upturn in performance in comparison to Mexico City and Diriyah, and this is something we should be happy with, especially after putting in so much hard work behind the scenes between the races.
“Hyderabad was a new circuit and with everyone starting from the same position, we showed our experience as a team to really capitalise in almost every situation we faced.
“Running consistently inpractice was one of our top priorities, we had a very good understanding of the circuit, its demands, and how to adapt our car to meet those requirements.”
Positive pace in practice was carried forward into qualifying, when both Edoardo Mortara and Maximilian Günther advanced from the group to the duel stages for the first time this season, and in a strong showing, the duo secured seventh and fifth.
“Our performance over one lap was significantly better this weekend, and qualifying was one of the most encouraging points,” continues James.
“We had both drivers participating in the duels for the first time this season, and this shows that we can compete with the others over one lap.
“Because of track limit violations, we weren’t able to make it to the Semi-Finals, but starting high up the grid unlocked a lot of opportunities for us, and with this new car and style of racing, it’s very important to have good track position in race conditions.
“Our race was anything but straightforward, but putting aside the obvious challenges, we looked competitive.
“Edo made a good start but his race was compromised after he made contact with [Nick] Cassidy.
“He pitted to change the front wing to get back on track, but because he was racing with damage, it was quite difficult to assess his pace accurately.
“His recovery was helped by the Safety Car, but he still managed to execute a strong race to bring home atop 10 result, which, under the circumstances, we should be happy with.”
While Edo rebounded to the points after a tricky afternoon, poor fortune plagued Max to heavily impact what was a very promising start.
“Max was just extremely unlucky, and he deserved so much more from the weekend,” says James.
“He was looking very competitive in the early stages and was able to keep pace with the leaders. He was fast enough to fight in the top five, and maybe even the top three.
“With real-time data insights from Hewlett Packard Enterprise, we could see the evolution of the race clearly, and this meant that we were able to build a good gap for Max’s Attack Mode strategy.
“Unfortunately, we missed our deployment which put us down to sixth. We then tried to re-activate on lap 13, but that coincided with the crash between the Jaguar drivers.
“Max had to avoid the accident when he was taking Attack Mode and had to duck out of the loop, but he was then blocked on the outside which put him way down the order.”
Hindsight goes hand-in-hand with Formula E, yet in the face of disappointment, positives were easy to takeaway, pinning hopes high for the fifth race of the season next week.
“Without the bad luck, Ithink a double points finish could have been on the cards, and maybe even a podium, bearing in mind how chaotic the second half of the race was,” adds James.
“Formula E is unpredictable,and it’s rare that things go in the way that you hope. We had an efficient car,with good one lap pace, and that’s something we can take in our stride and be happy with.
“We know that we can fight, and we know that a good result is coming – we just need to put everything together and execute a weekend without any mistakes.
“Cape Town should offer a good chance for us to do that. Like Hyderabad, it’s a new circuit. We have good processes in place that are tried and tested, and we’ll be continuing to refine our performance up until the race.
“As long as we’re our same proactive, versatile, and adaptive selves, I know that we can perform well.”
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