Mahindra Racing boss Dilbagh Gill has described Nick Heidfeld’s drive in the second round of the Berlin ePrix as a ‘masterclass’ after he came from last to finish in the points.
The German’s hopes of claiming a fourth podium finish in a row were dashed when a throttle sensor issue meant that he couldn’t finish a full power qualifying lap.
It meant that Heidfeld started last, and with passing normally difficult in Formula E his chances of making it into the points were slim.
However he made remarkable progress, passing half of the field to make it into the top ten before dropping back when forced to conserve more energy before the end of his first stint.
He started making progress again in the second stint though, and passed Nelson Piquet Jr and Antonio Felix da Costa to finish tenth.
Speaking about it afterwards, Gill said, “His progress through the field from 20th to the points was a master class in wheel-to-wheel racing. Now, as a team we will look forward to preparing for the final races of the season.”
Heidfeld himself described his drive as bittersweet, as he said his strong pace meant that had he not had the problem in qualifying he could have been on for a special result.
“It was a disappointing day,” he said. “I had to start dead last due to a sensor problem in qualifying that meant when I went on full throttle I had no acceleration and when I was off the paddle the car was accelerating.
“Our strategy was to push hard in the beginning of the race. I made up many positions and we were still decent on energy usage in the first stint.
“I could than again overtake some more cars in the second part of the race whilst having the best pace of the field.
“This is bittersweet and makes it even harder to swallow a P10 result with a reward of only 1 point.”
Driver’s Championship
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Team’s Championship
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