"Not good enough" - 2 new front wings & 1 meagre point for Andretti at Formula E race in Monaco

For Jake Dennis and Norman Nato, Monaco was the weakest E-Prix of the Formula E season so far after the second Diriyah race. The US team had to leave with just one meagre point. While powertrain partner Porsche scored both points and pole position, nothing seemed to come together for Andretti. Problems in qualifying and a race with two accidents left the team disappointed.

Andretti's Saturday did not have many highs. In qualifying, Roger Griffiths' team had to recognise that the other teams had done a better job of setting up their cars. Norman Nato was last in his group until Nico Müller's cancelled lap time, and Jake Dennis just managed to get past Dan Ticktum and rookie Taylor Barnard. 18th and 19th place were the worst qualifying results of the season for the US Americans.

Nato is aware of Andretti's biggest weakness: "It seems that qualifying has been our weakness this year, and at a track like Monaco it has proved difficult for us. It's not easy to come back from 19th on the grid." In the race, he was actually able to move up from the back of the grid to finish in the points. However, the Frenchman also benefited from the chaotic course of the race.

Nato & Dennis need 2 new front wings

The starting phase of the race was turbulent. Reigning world champion Dennis battled his way through the field and made it up to tenth place. There were collisions all over the field, including for Nato. On lap 4, there was a crash between Mahindra rider Nyck de Vries and the Frenchman, who lost his front wing.

Since the other Mahindra of Edo Mortara crashed heavily due to technical problems, Nato was at least able to come into the pits under safety car conditions. At the restart, the Andretti with the #17 was again directly behind the competition at the back of the field.

Shortly afterwards, Dennis was also involved in a collision. An unsuccessful overtake against Robin Frijns cost the Briton his front wing too. Without a safety car, as was the case with Nato, he dropped far behind the field to last place. Without this racing accident, more would have been possible, says Dennis: "Before the contact, it looked as if we were in a strong position. I think we probably could have finished in the top seven."

Catch-up race by Nato not enough for Andretti

There was no way back to the front for Dennis, who crossed the finish line in 20th place with no points. Nato, on the other hand, managed to catch up to tenth place. Some good overtaking manoeuvres and the one championship point were the maximum after the pit stop - and reason for hope: "We are not satisfied with tenth place, but the comeback after the incident was positive and our race pace is clearly strong," said Nato.

Team principal Griffiths speaks for the whole team: "We are leaving Monaco pretty disappointed. By our own high standards, having just one car in the top 10 is not good enough." Qualifying remains the biggest problem. The team has only qualified in the top 5 twice this season, and Andretti has a lot of work ahead of the next round in Berlin on 11 and 12 May.