"Made excellent progress " - Andretti satisfied with double points finish, but still clearly behind Porsche

For Andretti, the race in Mexico with a double points finish was satisfying - especially compared to the points-less disaster in Sao Paulo at the start of the eleventh Formula E season. With 15 points from Jake Dennis and Nico Müller, the US team worked its way up from last to seventh place in the teams' standings. However, the race also showed that Andretti is currently clearly behind the Porsche works team.

In qualifying, Jake Dennis at least made it into the quarterfinals, but lost his first duel against Antonio Felix da Costa. The Portuguese was a whole two tenths of a second faster on one lap. The two works drivers were later racing against each other in the final. In the race, the two teams battled it out for a surprisingly long time and were in first to fourth place at times, but Andretti couldn't keep up that pace in the final third.

Dennis & Müller were actually doing everything right

Jake Dennis and Nico Müller made rapid progress in the first laps. The Swiss driver moved up to sixth place, while Dennis made it into the leading group from seventh on the grid. On lap 16, the former world champion used the Attack Mode to take the lead for the first time in the 2024/25 season. Müller put himself in the best possible position to support Dennis.

In third place, he held off Pascal Wehrlein long enough for Dennis to stay ahead of the reigning champion also when the Attack Mode was activated for the second time. The team game was perfectly executed, but in the end it didn't pay off because shortly afterwards, Dennis' pace dropped a bit. Wehrlein and Oliver Rowland caught the Briton and Müller dropped out of the top five again. The gap between Dennis and the podium positions continued to grow.

One possible reason for this could have been increased tyre wear. Around lap 25, shortly after being overtaken by the two Porsche works drivers, Dennis radioed to his team: "My left front tyre is gone."

In the end, it was enough for fourth place and the fastest race lap though. The first 13 points went to his account. Dennis is satisfied: "It was a pretty positive end to a somewhat difficult day. It was great that we were fighting for a podium finish the whole time. I leave the second round of the season very satisfied." However, anyone who knows Dennis knows that he had hoped for more. Nevertheless, the 2023 world champion made a big leap in the drivers' championship and is now sixth.

Müller involved in accident with Evans

Shortly after the first safety car period of the race Mueller and Mitch Evans collided. A technical glitch that prevented the Andretti from accelerating properly was to blame. Evans crashed into the rear of Müller and retired. The Swiss driver was able to continue, but lost even more ground in the final laps. He crossed the finish line in ninth place, hampered by the technical problem.

So he had his doubts about the result: "We scored our first points of the season, but it could have been a few more if a small technical problem hadn't cost us a few positions." Andretti team principal Roger Griffiths praised the teamwork of his drivers in particular: "We have seen that the drivers work well together, co-operate and help each other. Both have made excellent progress."

In fact, it seemed as if Müller has arrived in his new team, although Dennis still clearly emphasised his leadership role. However, there is still plenty of potential in the Andretti package, as Porsche impressively demonstrated. If they can close the gap to the manufacturer's team, then Andretti could fight for the title again this year. The team can take the next step forward on 14 and 15 February. That's when the "double header" starts in Jeddah!