Formula E: Mahindra admits deficit after late Gen4 start & puts faith in joker

Mahindra is heading into Formula E's Gen4 era with a significant deficit. While its rivals were already testing their Gen4 development cars at the end of 2025, the Indian manufacturer did not take its own Gen4 package to the track until July. Nyck de Vries openly admits that Mahindra is "late to the party". Team principal Frederic Bertrand nevertheless puts his faith in the team's stability and, above all, the new token system, which should allow development deficits to be corrected more quickly.

The main reason for the late start was that Mahindra's board did not approve the project until November 2025. By that point, its rivals had already begun running their cars on track. The Indian team initially targeted May for its first tests.

However, Mahindra also missed that target. The team cites risk-management decisions and supplier issues as the reasons. The first shakedown eventually took place in mid-July. Development driver Jake Hughes initially carried out a large share of the testing work before race drivers Nyck de Vries and Edoardo Mortara also got behind the wheel of the Gen4 car in August.

De Vries: "It's no secret that we're late to the party"

Mahindra therefore finds itself clearly behind its rivals in the development race. However, the team is open about its current situation. Speaking to Motorsport.com, de Vries said: "It's obviously no secret that we're late to the party. That's a fact that I won't deny."

"But it's still the same group of people. I think we can keep a consistent group with little staff turnover. I see that as a strength and I hope it will enable us to catch up with our rivals more quickly. The learning curve will obviously be very steep, but I believe in everyone who is here," the Dutchman continued.

De Vries nevertheless warns against playing down the deficit. The development time already lost cannot simply be recovered, regardless of the resources available. With a technically much more complex car in particular, Mahindra may therefore need some patience at the beginning of the Gen4 era.

Mahindra already showed during the Gen3 era that it is capable of completely turning around a difficult situation after a poor start to a new set of regulations. After being well off the pace in Seasons 9 and 10, the team demonstrated impressively with the Gen3 Evo what can be achieved following a difficult start. Mahindra became a regular threat to the favourites, particularly in qualifying, and finished last season third in the Teams' Championship behind Jaguar and Porsche. However, the situation back then cannot be compared entirely with the current one.

Bertrand: "Normal development process"

Team principal Frederic Bertrand also spoke to Motorsport.com about the current state of development: "The car has now been tested. We now know the weaknesses and the points that are a little higher on the list than we expected. We are working hard to consolidate those points and do as much as possible in those areas. That's the normal development process."

He continued: "The current target is to make sure the reliability is at the level we expected. It looks like that's the case. That gives us the opportunity to shift our focus a little away from reliability and towards testing and developing a more competitive car. That's also one of the reasons why we waited before going out on track." Mahindra still plans to take part in the joint test for all teams in Valencia in October, ahead of the official pre-season testing in Madrid.

Could Formula E's new development system be Mahindra's ace up its sleeve?

Unlike in previous Formula E eras, the electric racing series is introducing a new upgrade system with Gen4 that is based on the token system used for Hypercars in the World Endurance Championship (WEC). Manufacturers will therefore no longer have to wait two years before being able to make improvements to their powertrains.

Bertrand sees this change as an advantage for Mahindra: "That was an important element for me in explaining to the management that we could accept a small delay. If we see at the beginning that we have a small deficit somewhere, we have the joker system. So we don't have to wait two years or even longer to change things."

"The fact that we can now react much more quickly gives us confidence," the Frenchman added. "You are no longer stuck behind for an entire period if you start development later."