Special feature

Formula E London ePrix II

Why de Vries has bought into Mahindra’s Formula E vision

Since his early Formula 1 exit, Nyck de Vries' comeback in Formula E looked a safe bet, but few would have predicted his Mahindra gamble. But having seen the team’s long-term plans and ambitions, it was enough to convince the 2020-21 all-electric series champion to buy into the project

Stefan Mackley

Published: Sep 27, 2023, 3:51 PM

Copy link

Share on Viber

Add as a preferred source

Nyck de Vries, Mercedes-Benz EQ

Nyck de Vries’s return to the Formula E World Championship has not come as much of a surprise to many following the Dutchman’s brief stint in Formula 1, having been given the sack by AlphaTauri after just 10 races.

More surprising is his return to the all-electric championship comes with Mahindra, given the Indian manufacturer’s recent and unimpressive form. A quick look at last year’s teams’ standings makes for grim reading, showing that Mahindra finished 10th out of 11 teams. The 11th? Customer squad Abt Cupra.

It might seem like a fall from grace for de Vries, who won the 2020-21 Formula E title and four races during a three-year spell with Mercedes prior to his move into F1. The 28-year-old’s services certainly would not have been in short supply up and down the Formula E grid given his previous success, but the fact de Vries has gone with Mahindra hints of a bigger picture.

Frederic Bertrand has been in his role as Mahindra’s chief executive officer for just short of a year after leaving his position at the FIA, where he served as its director of Formula E, but has already made big changes and even bigger statements during that time.

This has included parting ways with Lucas di Grassi after just one season, while ties were also cut with Oliver Rowland after just nine races in 2023. As outlined earlier this year, Bertrand’s vision to make Mahindra a successful and winning Formula E team again spans three years, and which fundamentally involves developing the team into a manufacturer, rather than the other way around.

Expanding its Banbury base, hiring new staff and increasing morale have been some of the short-term goals, all of which has all helped persuade de Vries and new team-mate Edoardo Mortara to join Mahindra.

“That’s what we collectively believe in,” de Vries exclusively tells Motorsport.com about the team’s vision. “I think it shouldn’t be underestimated that the team already has great fundamentals but it’s just about getting everybody together on the right path. And with some changes and additional recruitment I think we can only enhance and speed up that learning and development. We collectively believe in this project.”

A driver duo of de Vries and Mortara gives Mahindra an experienced pairing to help guide it out of its recent malaise

Photo by: Mahindra Racing

A key aspect of ensuring Mahindra’s project has a chance of being successful was to hire two drivers capable of pushing the team forwards, and it’s a sign of intent that both have been signed on multi-year deals. Bertrand believes that both de Vries and Mortara have shown that they have the right abilities to help teams grow and thrive throughout their careers.

“What was very important for me was to find two drivers who understand the project, who understand that we have a long way in front of us,” says Bertrand. “I needed two guys able to understand that, and that’s what I liked since the beginning with Edo because he has that background of helping, developing, structuring and being part of a successful project in a team. He has done that in the past in F3, in DTM but also in Formula E so that was a clear and strong asset for me. And the same with Nyck, he has the experience of working with a top-level team, working with Mercedes and for me that’s also very important.

“We need to raise our level of understanding of what being a top team means and getting those two guys in the team, with very strong experience from the past years, plus the global asset they have, is definitely what we needed.”

"We’ll have to see how the synergy between all of us will grow but I’m certain and I’ve no doubts that we have very good ingredients to become successful" Nyck de Vries

In de Vries and Mortara, Mahindra has drivers capable of winning races and challenging for championships, the latter having spent six seasons with Venturi and the newly rebranded Maserati MSG squad, taking six wins and challenging for the title on two occasions.

But Bertrand is all too aware that such success is unlikely to come next season, with the homologation of the software and various other aspects of the Gen3 car meaning it will be difficult to bridge the gap to the likes of Jaguar and Porsche.

“I have prepared them a lot and they are fully briefed on the fact the season to come is probably not the easiest one they have experienced in their lives, but it’s the season we need to build for the future,” says Bertrand.

Mahindra has shaken up its entire driver line-up for the upcoming season

Photo by: Andrew Ferraro

“We will definitely have a season which will still be difficult, challenging, with ups and downs, but we need to make sure that we have more ups than downs. They know that it will be tough, I didn’t lie to them at all, and they could understand it with the experience they have. They have seen how last season was, so they know what is going to be this season.

“But on the other side they also know and believe that we can improve already in this season, and they trust that the future will be very promising, so that’s why they joined.”

The fact that de Vries and Mortara have both signed up knowing this season will likely be a struggle empathises that this is a long-term commitment. De Vries, though, sees no reason why visible progress cannot be made during the 2023-24 campaign, before Gen3.5 in 2024-25 offers an even bigger chance for change.

“Formula E is a stock series, ultimately, we all have the same car, the same tyres," he says. “Obviously powertrains are independent from each manufacturer, but I do believe that with the kind of learnings the team has done over the last year, we can continue that learning and continue that path forward.

“I’m sure that we can make good steps this year and then hopefully start to capitalise and put things together over time. It’s not black and white, it’s not like you put something in and that’s the outcome. We’ll have to see how the synergy between all of us will grow but I’m certain and I’ve no doubts that we have very good ingredients to become successful in the near future.”

Given Mahindra, de Vries and Mortara all experienced struggles during 2023 it seems fitting that all three have now come together for the start of a new era. All have proven capable of winning in Formula E, but only time will tell whether Bertrand’s masterplan, and de Vries’s trust in this vision, will come to fruition.

After his early F1 exit, will de Vries and Mahindra be able to discover a mutual resurgence?

Photo by: Simon Galloway / Motorsport Images

We want your opinion!

What would you like to see on Motorsport.com?

Take our 5 minute survey.

- The Motorsport.com Team

Read and post comments

Share Or Save This Story

Copy link

Share on Viber

Previous article Daruvala joins Guenther at Maserati MSG in Formula E

Next article DS Penske retains Vergne, Vandoorne for 2024 Formula E season

Top Comments

There are no comments at the moment. Would you like to write one?

View More & Comment

Latest news

Kevin Harvick: NASCAR needs a Gen 7.5 car and 'some hard conversations'

NASCAR Cup

NAS NASCAR Cup

Homestead-Miami

18 min

Kevin Harvick: NASCAR needs a Gen 7.5 car and 'some hard conversations'

Frankie Muniz "a little sore," released from hospital after Daytona crash

General

Misc General 1 h

Frankie Muniz "a little sore," released from hospital after Daytona crash

Frankie Muniz transported to hospital after Daytona practice crash

General

Misc General 6 h

Frankie Muniz transported to hospital after Daytona practice crash

Ford unveils new Mustang body for 2027 NASCAR Cup season

NASCAR Cup

NAS NASCAR Cup 6 h

Ford unveils new Mustang body for 2027 NASCAR Cup season

Feature

Discover prime content

Why ‘Mr Formula E’ has called time on his racing career

Formula E

By James Newbold

Why ‘Mr Formula E’ has called time on his racing career

The team orders debacle that made for a controversial Formula E title decider

Formula E

London ePrix II

The team orders debacle that made for a controversial Formula E title decider

The 'incredible stories' that could be told in Formula E's London title decider

Formula E

London ePrix I

The 'incredible stories' that could be told in Formula E's London title decider

Cars, stars, and the shootout winners from the 2026 Goodwood Festival of Speed

General

By Maciej Hamera

Cars, stars, and the shootout winners from the 2026 Goodwood Festival of Speed

Subscribe and access Motorsport.com with your ad-blocker.

From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.

You have 2 options:

Become a subscriber.
Disable your adblocker.

Subscribe now Already subscribed? Sign in here

Already disabled your adblocker?
Reload page

Manage Alerts