Mercedes-Benz EQ Team Principal Ian James has said that his team must start eliminating their mistakes if they are to get back on track in the 2019-20 ABB FIA Formula E Championship.
It comes after another technical issue cost the team points, with a motor control software problem causing Nyck de Vries to go over the regeneration limits.
The infringement led to a drive-through penalty, and dropped the Dutchman from challenging for a podium to twenty-third.
Although he recovered to eleventh, his team were once again left apologising to him after a technical issue also led to him retiring from the previous race in Mexico City.
“Today was not our luckiest of days,” James said after the race. “Nyck got a drive through penalty for overstepping the regeneration limits. That was clearly not his fault and it cost him a well-deserved finish far higher up the ranks.
“It appeared to have been an issue with the motor control software, but we need to investigate further to understand exactly why this happened – as we did not change anything from the Free Practice sessions. The investigation and resolution will start now.
“For us, there is a lot to take home from this set-back today. We have to get rid of our own mistakes to leave decisions where they belong: on the track. But we will definitely pull everything together and regroup for the next race.”
Stoffel Vandoorne also had a bad race as he failed to find any pace in the car throughout the weekend.
In what he described as a ‘very tough’ experience, Vandoorne said that the team tried everything to fix the situation, but nothing worked for them.
“I’ve been down on pace all weekend,” he said after the race. “We had a couple of issues in FP1, but the car felt much better today. However, my confidence was still not all there and I didn’t quite string things together properly in Group 1 of qualifying, unfortunately.
“All in all, it’s been a very tough weekend for me. I really struggled in every session and was never really on the pace at all, not even a little, which is very strange, because this is the first time that’s ever happened to me.
“I need to understand why. I don’t really know the reason. We tried everything possible with the car but never really managed to get more out of it.”
The result from Marrakesh has dropped Mercedes down to fifth in the team’s championship, and they now sit forty-two points behind leaders DS Techeetah.
