On paper, a stunning win in Hyderbad at the hands of Vergne, pole in Sao Paulo for Vandoorne and fifth in the Teams' standings was by no means a write-off for DS PENSKE.
Both DS and PENSKE entered the all-new GEN3 age of Formula E at the dawn of a new era for themselves - in a fresh partnership from Season 9. Expectations were high with among the pick of the driver line-ups under their garage roof and multiple title-winning pedigree.
Two Drivers titles and a pair of Teams' honours under the DS TECHEETAH operation leave little doubts as to the brand's high expectations and talent at hand. Fifth in the standings for 2022/23 equalled their lowest finish to-date in Formula E - alongside 2015/16.
It hasn't yet clicked, with DS' powertrain perhaps the focus as to why - mid-pack in results with customers Maserati MSG Racing arguably getting the better of it as the season went on, though the Italo-Monegasque squad finished just behind DS in the Teams' running in the end.
At the start of a new set of regulations and homologations there are always teams that get the jump - and in this instance it's been Jaguar and Porsche, with their powertrains the pick of the bunch in factory and customer trim as they occupied the top four slots in the Teams' table come the final chequered flag of the season.
DS hit 100 races in Formula E this past season
Franzetti: 'Season 9 encouraging, but our aspirations are a return to the top'
So, DS are currently best of the rest. Director of DS Performance Eugenio Franzetti is encouraged amid frenetic and high quality competition, but all focus is on 'higher aspirations' for Season 10 - with development already underway.
"The end of Season 9 is a special moment that allows us to take stock of these long months of hard work and intense activity," says Franzetti. "In December, we got into a rollercoaster of emotions that ended on Sunday evening after the last race in London.
"Sometimes, these were very positive emotions: such as victory in India and podiums in Cape Town then in Berlin, as well as pole position in Sao Paulo. Then there were also some more negative emotions after races that didn't go as we would have hoped.
"We will use all these emotions as a base from which to build our Season 10, capitalising on the positive points and working more and more to improve the aspects that weren’t going so well. And that’s precisely what we are going to do, because we have a team full of incredibly talented people with a huge will to win, who are fully committed to doing whatever it takes to make progress.
"In September, we will immediately start preparing for Season 10, with the clear objective of improving on what we have been doing this season to get back to the very top tier of the leaderboard. Finally, thank you to the entire DS PENSKE ‘dream team’ for their unstinting dedication throughout this long and demanding championship.”