Felix gets points for Mahindra Racing

Mahindra Racing driver Nick Heidfield retired, while his partner Felix Rosenqvist charged through the pack from P14 to finish P4,  in the inaugural Antofagasta Minerals Santiago E-Prix in Chile this weekend.

After a race win and both cars in the points in Marrakesh, Mahindra Racing led the championship, but after Round 4 of the 2017- 2018 ABB FIA Formula E Championship in Santiago, it is in second place with 87 points, only two points behind new leaders Techeetah. With a tally of 66 points, Felix is now in second place, five points behind Techeetah driver Jean Eric Vergne. Nick is in seventh place with 21 points.

A dusty and slippery track did not play to the team’s strength in terms of the cars’ qualifying setups. A first lap incident saw Nick pit almost immediately to switch cars and continue his race. Unfortunately, with one car out of action, he was forced to retire at the time he would normally come in for his pitstop.

In his own unique fashion, Felix begun his charge up the order almost immediately. He pulled himself up into the points, and after a lightning fast pitstop (due to minimum pitstop times being abolished by the FIA), he exited the pitlane fifth and looked like he was ready to take the fight all the way to the finish. In a hard fighting field of drivers, he spent the last few laps behind the Renault of Sebastian Buemi, and the ex-Formula E Champion did his best to successfully keep Felix at bay. Bearing in mind the greater need of the hour, Felix held back a little bit in order to play it safe, finish fourth, and bring home the maximum points he could, without putting himself in jeopardy.