Mixed feelings at Andretti after home race: "Timing of the safety car ruined our strategy"

The Andretti Formula E Team was able to finish in the points with both drivers at its home Formula E race at Homestead-Miami Speedway. Jake Dennis, who started from second on the grid, only finished ninth due to an unfortunate strategy, but Nico Müller drove up from P18 to fourth place - thanks in part to penalties for several drivers. The US team was therefore able to draw a positive conclusion with double points.

At the start of the weekend, Andretti was still struggling. Müller crashed in the chicane in the second free practice session, bringing out the red flag. He finished the session in last place. Dennis got off to a better start to the weekend and his upward trend continued in qualifying: he qualified for the duels for the 25th time in his Formula E career and reached the final for the tenth time - where he was beaten by Nissan's Norman Nato.

In the race, Dennis was less fortunate. He dropped back from second place and then was unable to fully utilise his first attack mode due to the first safety car, which was triggered by Nyck de Vries' Mahindra rolling out. "The timing of the first safety car was super unfortunate for us and ruined our race strategy", says Dennis.

"After qualifying on the front row of the grid, it was not the result we were hoping for," continued the Briton. "It wasn't quite the points haul we were hoping for in our home race. Maybe it would have been enough for the top 5. Still, it was nice to be back on the front row of the grid."

Müller: "We stumbled with our pure pace"

Teammate Müller initially remained at the back of the field and worked his way forward after activating his first attack mode on lap 11, even leading the E-Prix for a lap. The Swiss driver took up the restart of the race from P10 after the accident between Jake Hughes, Maximilian Günther and Sebastien Buemi. After several drivers in the top 10 received retrospective attack mode penalties, the 33-year-old was able to move up to fourth place.

"Today's race was the usual chaos that comes with Formula E," explains Müller. "Fortunately, we made the right decisions and our strategy allowed us to maximise our race. We faltered a bit with our pure pace, which could have made the difference for the end of the E-Prix. On the whole, I am happy with the points haul."

"For Nico (it was) a mixed day with the crash in practice and the weak qualifying. His race was all the better for it", summarises team principal Roger Griffiths. "It was great to see Nico at the front. He did a great job to finish in the top 4. All in all, we are happy to have scored points with both cars."

With this result, Andretti is now 7th in the teams' standings. Jake Dennis is also in seventh place in the drivers' championship. Nico Müller is currently 15th and the team will have their next chance to score points next weekend in Monaco.