Mahindra Racing described their Buenos Aires ePrix as ‘frustrating’ as both cars finished well outside of the top ten.
Although Felix Rosenqvist did manage to get the points for fastest lap towards the end, it was a far cry from the two podiums the team had secured in the first two races.
Rosenqvist had been running in the points at the start of the race, and managed to stop a lap later than the majority of the field.
But a Battery Management System (BMS) issue saw the team struggle to get his second car started, relegating him to the back of the field and leaving him with no choice but to try and set the fastest lap.
Commenting after the race, the Swede said the team’s original ambition had been for a fifth place.
“The race ended in a little bit of frustration for us here in Buenos Aires,” he said.
“It went really well in the first stint on a very long strategy working to save a lot of energy but we were still really strong lap time-wise.
“Aiming for the top five, we had planned to do a really quick second stint but in the pit stop we had a BMS error that meant that the car wouldn’t start.
“The only thing we could do was push for the fastest lap of the race. It’s one point to take away, but still very frustrating to lose a stronger finish.”
A poor qualifying meanwhile left Nick Heidfeld down in twelfth, but after also stopping a lap later he was able to use his extra energy to make progress through the field.
However the team had sent him out too early after his car swap, meaning he was under the required minimum pit-stop time by four tenths.
That resulted in a drive through that ended his chance for points.
“It was a disappointing day finishing outside the points,” said Heidfeld.
“We were strong in free practice but qualifying was not optimal, however we still had a chance to score some good points during the race.
“I went to lap 20 in the first stint, one lap longer than most of the field, with more energy in the second car I caught them quickly and overtook a lot of them.
“Unfortunately we undershot the minimum pit time by a really small margin but the rule is there for safety reasons.”
Despite their disappointing race Mahindra remain third in the team’s championship, 23 points behind Abt Schaeffler Audi and 74 points behind leaders Renault e.dams.
