"We have come so far" - Nyck de Vries shines in London & gives Mahindra P4 in Formula E teams' standings

Mahindra driver Nyck de Vries showed an outstanding season finale at the London E-Prix: The Dutchman finished second on the podium in both races, not only giving himself a fine end to the season, but also securing Mahindra fourth place in the teams' standings: a result that exceeded the Indian team's expectations.

Mahindra went into the final race weekend of the season in London with 142 points and in 5th place in the teams' championship. Ahead of them were McLaren with one point more, Jaguar with 20 points, DS Penske with 24 points, Nissan with 63 points and Porsche with 86 points more.

Before the weekend, Mahindra's official LinkedIn account confidently but cautiously stated: "We are ready for the Formula E season finale, in which the aim is to achieve a top 5 result in the world championship." The fact that Mahindra even ended up in fourth place is thanks above all to a brilliant Nyck de Vries.

Saturday: Strong start from de Vries, bad luck for Mortara

The first signs that the track suited the Dutchman and his car were already evident in the second free practice session, which de Vries finished in first position. An impressive qualifying session followed, in which he prevailed in the duel phase against Maximilian Günther and Dan Ticktum. Only in the final duel against Mitch Evans did de Vries have to admit defeat.

After qualifying, he said on ServusTV: "Getting into the duels was really difficult because I had a flat tyre (after the group stage in qualifying) and had to come in. It was not easy at all." Nevertheless, he achieved a good second place on the grid. For a while, de Vries even led the race, but then had to let pass Nick Cassidy in the Jaguar. In the end, he took second place.

On the other side of the Mahindra garage, things looked a little more turbulent: Edoardo Mortara had a contact with DS Penske driver Maximilian Günther at the start of the race. Mortara was able to continue and finished the race in sixth position. With the 26 points scored, Mahindra found itself in fifth place in the teams' championship on Saturday evening, as McLaren had not scored any points.

Similar picture on Sunday

On Sunday, the winning streak continued for de Vries: He started the race three positions further back than the day before, after he once again had to compete against Evans in the Jaguar and, as on the previous day, was no quicker around the track than the New Zealander. Team-mate Mortara also made it through the group stage, but suffered a brake-by-wire issue in the quarter-final against Nick Cassidy and stopped on the track - 8th place on the grid for him.

Mortara's race got off to another frustrating start: his car broke down without any external influence, forcing the Swiss driver to park it after just a few seconds. De Vries once again battled in the leading group throughout the race - albeit somewhat more inconspicuously than on the previous day - and secured another silver trophy for the team. An important 18 points that even allowed the Indian team to overtake DS Penske in the teams' championship.

The best result for Mahindra since season 4

For Mahindra, it was the best overall result in a "double-header" race weekend since Alex Lynn's double podium in London 2021. And for de Vries, too, it was a kind of deja vu: the last time he stood on the podium twice in a "double-header" was in the 2021 season - also twice in second place. Back then, he later won the title.

De Vries is proud, "considering we started from the back of the grid in qualifying last year... And today we are here on the podium for the second time. We have come so far, the team has done such a great job. We've also fought our way forward in the championship. That's really cool," he describes the success on ServusTV.

A worthy end to the season for Mahindra, and an impressive performance from Nyck de Vries!