Analysis
Formula E
Analysis: Where is Mahindra in the pecking order
If the directors of Mahindra Racing are going to continue supporting the Formula E programme, success in season two of the FIA Formula E Championship will be critical says Peter Santamaria-Woods.
Peter Santamaria-Woods
Edited: Oct 23, 2015, 11:40 AM
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Eighth place in the teams’ championship in season one was dismal and resultantly the directors at Mahindra Racing will be looking for a vast improvement to justify the cost of championship participation.
Pre-season testing
The six days of testing conducted at Donington Park in August provided an insight into how season two will play out – and the situation looks promising for the Indian squad.
Mahindra completed a total of 1669km in testing with Bruno Senna and Nick Heidfeld behind the wheel, which amounts to 14.4% of the total running achieved by all teams.
This total was only bettered by Venturi who completed 15.5% of the total distance and Renault e.dams on 14.8%.
With 10 teams on the grid, if all were on an even keel, they would have completed 10% of the running - clearly Mahindra are one of the teams who have stolen an early advantage in relation to gathering data.
Percentage of total distance covered:
Pos Team Percentage 1 Venturi 15.5 2 Renault e.dams 14.8 3 Mahindra Racing 14.4 4 Dragon Racing 12.7 5 Team Aguri 12.5 6 Virgin Racing 10.8 7 ABT Schaeffler Audi Sport 8.5 8 NEXTEV TCR 7.7 9 Andretti 2.7 10 Trulli 0.2
The fastest lap set by each team across the six days was as follows:
Pos
Day
Driver
Time
Team
1
4
Lucas di Grassi
1:29.920
ABT Schaeffler Audi Sport
2
4
Sebastien Buemi
1:30.382
Renault e.dams
3
5
Sam Bird
1:30.451
DS Virgin Racing
4
4
Nick Heidfeld
1:30.674
Mahindra Racing
5
6
Jerome D’Ambrosio
1:30.860
Dragon Racing
6
6
Stephane Sarrazin
1:30.923
Venturi
7
4
Nathanael Berthon
1:31.185
Team Aguri
8
6
Robin Frijns
1:31.434
Andretti
9
6
Nelson Piquet
1:33.679
NEXTEV TCR
10
6
Vintantonio Liuzzi
-
Trulli
Once again, Mahindra are in the top half of the field which bodes well going forward. Of course, this data will be skewed by the different programmes each team were running, but the data is also somewhat indicative of how the early races could pan out.
Analysis
Assigning points to teams on a 1-10 scale based on their mileage covered and best laptime in order to produce an “average index” makes for interesting reading.
Pos
Team
Mileage score
Laptime score
Average index
1
Renault e.dams
2
2
2
2=
Venturi
1
6
3.5
2=
Mahindra Racing
3
4
3.5
4
ABT Schaeffler Audi Sport
7
1
4
5=
Dragon Racing
4
5
4.5
5=
DS Virgin Racing
6
3
4.5
7
Team Aguri
5
7
6
8=
NEXTEV TCR
8
9
8.5
8=
Andretti
9
8
8.5
10
Trulli
10
10
10
Is this the pecking order that will come to fruition in the early races? It certainly does not seem overly farfetched.
There are a number of parameters not taken into consideration here such as the track characteristics of the early races and the number of gears each car has (which will be a key factor in dictating race results), but this appears to be a reasonable guide.
For Mahindra, to be placed joint second on this “average index” is quite impressive and this means that the Indian outfit's pre-season went extremely well.
With the preparation complete, this is where the real racing begins - with new brakes, and an updated gearbox and powertrain, it could be the season where Mahindra Racing turn their early promise into points, podiums, and wins.
Read Also - Beijing ePrix's shakedown report
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