The Formula E season is weeks away, and although every team has fixed its lineup, there have been quite a few changes.
Just four teams will enter 2024-25 with the same driver pairing that they had the season before, which is a surprising statistic.
Formula E is a series which takes time to build up to things, and changing things could end up producing costly delays in development.
Sometimes it pays off, but in the example of Mahindra, who have struggled for a few years, they are continuing with the same two drivers – is this the right approach?
Nyck de Vries a ‘little surprised’ by Formula E driver market
Mahindra have themselves a solid pairing in ex-Formula 1 driver and Formula E champion Nyck de Vries, as well as the experienced Edoardo Mortara.
De Vries won his championship three years ago now but has struggled to find form in any category of racing since then.
He finished 18th last season, and speaking to RACER, has been surprised by the amount of movement from other teams regarding their driver pairings for the upcoming season.
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“In a way, I’m a little surprised by that. If you look at a team like Jaguar, which really is a very good example, that team has been very competitive for many years, but yet they haven’t won a driver championship.
“They won a team championship only last season, and that just shows that, even though you are a great team, always fighting in front, it takes time for things to all come together. I think some people do not appreciate the time it takes to kind of gel people together.”
What would be an improvement for Mahindra?
Mahindra’s best result in the series is a third-place they secured back in the 2016-17 season, but they have struggled since then.
They remained towards the bottom of the standings for a second year in a row in 2024 and ended up 10th in the team standings.
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Their last victory came courtesy of Alex Lynn in 2021 at the London E-Prix, and they have only taken five in 10 years.
It’s clear that there is a lot of work for them to do before they can compete with some of the bigger and better-established outfits.
As de Vries mentioned, keeping a stable team should be a recipe for success as they head into the future.