Felix Rosenqvist says that the suspension failure that cost him victory at the Rome ePrix was something that couldn’t have been predicted.
The Swede had looked a class above the rest of the field throughout qualifying and the race, helped by an aggressive line he was taking which saw him taking more kerb through the tight chicanes.
But his rear right suspension gave way on lap 22, causing him to retire on the spot and give away what looked like a likely race win.
Speaking afterwards Rosenqvist said that the failure wasn’t linked to any specific incident. He said, “Another very tough one to take for everyone. I feel bad for the boys.
“I’m super impressed by the team because it’s been a hectic weekend and everyone delivered in every session.
“Something that we couldn’t predict happened; we had a breakage with no connection to any specific incident.
“I always have a smile on my face when I know I’ve given all I can and that the team was flawless. Crazy pace today and we led every lap until we broke down. There are still a lot of positives to take from today.”
It was an equally disastrous race for his team-mate Nick Heidfeld, who after running in the points early on was shunted into the barrier after being caught on the outside of Oliver Turvey.
With Luca Filippi and Edorado Mortara also getting caught up in the incident it took a while for each car to extricate themselves from the barriers, and with Heidfeld being the last to get going he ended up down in seventeenth.
Heidfeld said after the race that the incident effectively ended any hopes he had of getting points, “On my in lap while attempting to pass Turvey at the hairpin, there was another car that went into him, in turn sending him into me, and this effectively ended my race.”
The double non-points finish saw Mahindra Racing drop to third in the team’s championship, with Rosenqvist now 37 points behind leader Jean-Eric Vergne.
