Mahindra revealed its Season 12 challenger at a launch event in London that exuded confidence and belief the team has turned a corner in its journey to the front of the Formula E grid.
Against the stunning and vibrant backdrop of the London’s West End, attendees from across the Mahindra Group and Formula E joined the team for the launch of its Season 12 campaign.
Mahindra is coming off a strong season where it move up the competitive order, finishing fourth in the standings with five visits to the podium, including a breakthrough second in Monaco.
But taking the next step appears to be on the minds of Team Principal Fred Bertrand, and drivers Nyck de Vries and Edoardo Mortara, both retained for Season 12, with Kush Maini announced as Test Driver.
Present at the launch was Chairman of Mahindra Anand Mahindra, as well as CEO Dr Anish Shah, all showing a united front for a team that is on the edge of returning to the winner’s circle.
Also present was Jeff Dodds, President of Formula E, who praised the legacy of the marque after the car had been unveiled to rapturous applause.
Speaking to media, including Motorsport Week, Bertrand, when asked, revealed his new target of winning races, confirming the aim, and how the team progressed and learned from missed opportunities.
“I think yes, definitely,” he confirmed. “The thing if you look at how it worked, Season 10 was first unlocking the capability of scoring points. Even if the car was not great, that was long and it came on the second half of the season.
“Season 11 was scoring points quick and then getting on the podium and it worked also quite well. The only thing we didn’t unlock was managing to win a race. We were close, Jakarta was not far off.
“It’s definitely what we didn’t unlock right now. That’s the goal, to make sure that we can win races and you can imagine the pride, the pride behind having the national anthem being played on the podium, on the first position, that will be huge. We know that that moment will be another step in our journey. We didn’t manage last year.
“It was good to keep a bit of a possibility of improvement for this season. Let’s hope that it will come very quickly and that it will come.”
Drivers excited for Season 12
Nyck De Vries shared Bertrand’s optimism, outlining his goals for the season ahead, with one particular area of focus the key to unlock the next level performance within the team.
“Of course, we got the taste of the podium back,” he said. “
We haven’t won a race yet. Hearing the Indian National anthem a race, I think it should be our first target.
But last year we said scoring points consistently, I think we somewhat did that. But I think we should try and aim to be more consistent around the top five. Execute better.
“Especially execute better in races to capitalise on good qualifying positions. And then from there, everything is awesome.
“It’s not like winning a championship means winning all the races. I think Oliver’s [Rowland] example at the end of the season also showed how difficult the championship is. We just got to be consistent. Which sounds easier than it is,” he admitted.
Team-mate Edoardo Mortara was cautiously optimistic of the season ahead, and while not openly stating he could challenge for wins, said the foundations for better results are in place.
“You never know what to expect in Formula E, so it’s always difficult to set goals or expectations into a new season.
“What I can say for next season is, I kind of know where we finish at the end of season 11, and I also know, because I’ve experienced some of the help and work by the engineers, I’ve experienced it on track, the work that has been done.
“So, in that sense I’m pretty confident to say that we’ve improved actually quite a bit where we finished at the end of season 11.
“Would that be enough, let’s say, to challenge for podiums and victories quite consistently, this is difficult for me to say, or better results in general, but at least our base is better.”
Testing for Season 12 kicks off next week in Valencia, with changes only permitted to software for this season, as Formula E prepares to usher in the new GEN4 car in 2026.
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