Mortara after crash with di Grassi at Formula E season opener: "We know the way Lucas races"

After an initially promising start to the first race weekend of the new Formula E season, the race in Sao Paulo ended for Edoardo Mortara in the wall after a duel with Lucas di Grassi. But the situation was not without consequences for the Brazilian either. He also had to park the car at his home race. After the race, both drivers blamed the other for the accident.

The weekend actually started strongly for Mahindra. The team brought the good form from the pre-season test in Valencia to Sao Paulo and qualified at the front of the field after a strong practice session: While Nyck de Vries finished fifth, Mortara put his car in fourth place. He even benefited from a penalty for Pascal Wehrlein afterwards, who secured pole position but was relegated three places.

The race went very badly for the Swiss driver. Right at the start, he got into a chaotic situation with his team-mate de Vries and Dan Ticktum's Cupra Kiro, which forced him to miss the first corner. Despite this, he was able to stay in the points. A time penalty of five seconds initially imposed on him for taking a shortcut was later cancelled.</p

Lola Yamaha ABT driver di Grassi, on the other hand, started his race from the back of the field and worked his way up into the top 10 during the first half of the race. When the two collided in turn 4, it meant the immediate end of the race for Mortara.</p

Mortara: "He's always very dirty"

Mortara clearly puts the blame on di Grassi. "We know how he races, he's always very dirty," he said when talking to e-Formula.news. "Unfortunately, this was another episode of him sending someone into the wall. But still at that point even if things were not looking perfect and we had our beats during the the race, I think that it was still possible to finish in the points. Probably, top 5, top 6 would have been possible. Unfortunately, we are going away from Sao Paulo with no points."

Di Grassi denied any blame after the accident: "In the second attack mode, a bad decision from another driver cost us the race and we were obliged to retire," said the Brazilian after the race, commenting only very briefly on the situation.

Despite the failure in Sao Paulo, Mahindra can also look back on the weekend positively. The team already showed a very strong pace last season. This will undoubtedly continue this season. Mahindra can therefore be confident that it can bring its current form to Mexico City, where the second race in season 12 of the Formula E World Championship is due to take place in just under four weeks' time.