Mortara narrowly misses another win at Formula E anniversary race: "I wasn't able to fully keep with Nick's rhythm"

Mahindra already showed strong pace in Sao Paulo. At the 150th Formula E race in Mexico City, Edoardo Mortara was finally able to claim the overdue podium after a strong performance. However, in the end it was just not enough for his third victory in an anniversary race of the series. After the race, the Swiss driver explained why he was unable to catch race winner Nick Cassidy.

Right at the start of the race, Mortara snatched second place behind Taylor Barnard after Sebastien Buemi's mistake, which he was able to hold on to for quite a while. Mortara was one of the drivers who only activated his attack mode in the later stages of the race. Shortly before the end of the race, he was again in second place with his last attack mode, but this time Nick Cassidy was ahead of him, having made a furious recovery from 13th place. But there was no way past the New Zealander for Mahindra.

"Especially towards the end of the race it was very stressful," said Mortara in the press conference after the race. "You just try to hold your position when you are in front. It's a bit unfortunate because the last 10 to 15 laps we started to suffer from some problems, let's say. I wasn't able to fully keep with Nick's rhythm. And unfortunately at some point he managed to create a gap. That's the reason why in the end, although I had the Attack Mode, I could not make an attack and overtake him."

"I'm very happy with second place"

"But in all fairness, I'm very happy with second place," he continued. "I was struggling with energy the last two, three laps. I knew that Jake (Dennis) and Oli (Rowland) were coming with more energy. So in the end, very happy with today's result."

The Swiss driver sees himself as lucky - especially considering that his team-mate Nyck de Vries had to retire with a technical problem: "Of course you hope that the same thing doesn't happen to you - especially because at that point I was running first or second. Also to mention that we were actually lucky to do the race. Because just prior to going to do the start formation lap, I had also a glitch (software issue) with my brake-by-wire. So in the end, I guess that I was lucky today."

After his victories at the 50th E-Prix in Hong Kong in 2019 and the 100th E-Prix in Seoul in 2022, the Mahindra driver finished second in the third Formula E anniversary race, 0.651 seconds behind the winner. Even though it was not enough to win in Mexico City for the first time, it was an impressive series. After his retirement in Sao Paulo, he is now in fifth place in the overall standings.

Now, however, the Formula E drivers have to prepare for a new circuit. The Miami E-Prix will take place in just under three weeks. The race will be held for the first time on a shortened version of the Miami International Autodrome. Formula E already made a guest appearance there last year and held the Evo sessions here.