Mahindra has 'got its act together' ahead of Jakarta FE race

The early part of Formula E's last Gen2 season had proved tricky for Mahindra as it logged just a single top-10 finish in the opening five races, leaving it a distant 11th in the championship out of 12 teams with a mere four points on board.

However, there were signs of resurgence in the returning Monaco E-Prix in April as Oliver Rowland battled with Porsche’s Andre Lotterer for fifth position, just as the Indian manufacturer introduced an updated braking system on the M8 Electro.

Last month’s double-header at Berlin validated the progress Mahindra had made over both a single lap and in race trim, with Alexander Sims qualifying his car on the front row and Rowland securing a season-best finish of seventh.

The upturn in performance has allowed the squad to move up to eighth in the championship, with the next highest-placed team Andretti well in its sights.

Speaking ahead of the inaugural Formula E race in Indonesia, which marks the start of the second leg of the 16-round 2022 calendar, Gill said Mahindra is now finally able to extract the true performance from the car after its early troubles.

“Over the last couple of races Mahindra has been coming back in terms of getting our act together,” Gill told Motorsport.com. 

“Both Monaco and Berlin were pretty encouraging. I see ourselves back sort of pushing where we expect to be right now towards the mid-pack

“We had a competitive package the whole year but we haven't sort of drawn in the results, fundamentally because we were not bringing both the cars in the points. 

“But each of the cars have shown a brilliant [performance] every weekend. Only the main apparition for us was Rome where we definitely didn't perform out there.

“Overall I think the package is good. The team has never lost motivation, but obviously with a string of bad results it increases the motivation for us to come back stronger. 

“And there have been some ideas which we've been unable to unlock so late in Gen2. So we are quite excited from the perspective that four years into the generation there are still some ideas being unlocked by the team in terms of improving performance.”

Image of the Jakarta FE circui, the Jakarta International Stadium

Photo by: Sam Bagnall / Motorsport Images

The Jakarta Street Circuit is one of the two new venues on the 2022 FE calendar alongside Seoul, with the race taking place at a 2.4km track in Ancol in the northern part of the Indonesian capital.

Gill praised the track layout for its fast and flowing nature, but warned that high temperatures could play a major role in determining the form guide .

“It's a very interesting track that they've put up here,” he explained. "The drivers really like it because it's a fast-flowing track.

“It is quite challenging in terms of where you can attack. Some of the corners like Turn 1 have two lines into it, so there are opportunities for both overtaking and regeneration. 

“It's got a mix of fast corners, some of the corners are quite similar to Riyadh, there are [also] some slow corners. And overall the Mahindra package this year is strong on both fast and slow corners. 

“More than an energy circuit it could be a thermal circuit. Knowing the hotter conditions here in Indonesia it could be pretty warm on Saturday afternoon. 

“I think Santiago in Chile in season six was the last real hot race. It's been two years to come back to this temperature. 

“We are all looking forward to it because it's a real race track as the drivers call it. People will have to sort of be at the edge, especially in qualifying. 

“Some of the corners are fast and flowing. If you miss one corner the problem is going to intensify as you go down the lap and it's going to be very difficult for you to recover a mistake."