Nyck De Vries addresses tough Jeddah doubleheader, hopes Mahindra Racing will solves car issues before Madrid E-Prix

Things have been very different for the two Mahindra Racing drivers this season. While Edoardo Mortara has moved up the Drivers’ Standings with two poles and two podiums, his teammate Nyck De Vries has faced disappointment in three out of five races, with the Jeddah doubleheader being a complete disaster for him. De Vries has expressed happiness about Mortara’s achievements and feels the team can now figure out the gaps during the one-month break before the Round 6 race in Madrid.Nyck De Vries finished ninth in São Paulo after starting from fifth position on the grid. But things took an unfortunate turn as he was unable to complete the Round 2 race in Mexico due to a motor failure. Things looked up for him in Miami, where he finished fifth and collected valuable points. However, he hit rock bottom again at the Jeddah doubleheader, where he faced a 60-place grid penalty for changing his car’s parts beyond the allocation limit.Calling it a “challenging weekend” in Jeddah, Nyck De Vries told RacingNews365.com in an interview, “It was very unfortunate not to be able to start race one on Friday (Round 4), and unfortunately, as a consequence, we also had to take a hit for the second race, partly because of the issues we had in Mexico when we retired with a motor failure. Friday it was actually the inverter and then the battery, so we accumulated quite a fair amount of damage in a short time. The season is very long, so we felt we needed to introduce new parts to have a clean slate going forward. Unfortunately, that meant we were hoping and waiting for a safety car [in race two], which never came. So definitely a tough one.”He still stressed focusing on the positives and expressed happiness that Edoardo Mortara was able to score important points for the team. “Thankfully, we have a little bit of a gap now to put all our stuff on the dyno and check what caused what, so that we are ready for the next part of the season,” he added.Despite the setbacks, Nyck De Vries stands 12th in the Formula E Drivers’ Standings with 12 points. The next Formula E race is scheduled in Madrid on March 21. It will be the inaugural Madrid E-Prix, as the venue is a new addition to the calendar, which is the biggest so far with as many as 17 races. Also read: Edoardo Mortara surges past Oliver Rowland in Formula E Drivers’ Standings after double poles, two podiums