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One team that has been working extra hard over the break from Diriyah to now is Mahindra Racing – who sit 10th in the drivers’ standings, having not yet scored any points.
Season 7 champ Nyck de Vries and Edoardo Mortara make up their driver line-up this year, with a total of 127 race starts and 10 victories between them. The Indian manufacturer has been transparent with the improvement goals they’ve set themselves over the next few years, but a super strong driver duo means they’re getting closer to the points-scoring territory.
De Vries made up 14 places, and Mortara 13, in the first three rounds. The latter of the two also got so close to the taste of points with an 11th place during Saturday’s race in Diriyah.
Bird and Mortara hit the top in Diriyah's double ABB Driver of Progress
“I’m very happy with the fact we’re racing in Brazil,” Mortara previewed. “Last year was my first time in Sao Paulo, and I felt a lot of support from the fans. I’m expecting a great atmosphere again this year. I hope that it’ll be a good weekend for us on track and we can benefit from that passion.”
Talking about performance on the track, the six-time Formula E race winner Mortara also addressed Mahindra’s pace and the steps they’re taking to get back to the front of the grid.
“Obviously we’re not satisfied with the level of performance that we’ve shown, especially in qualifying over the first two race weekends. But, we are now understanding more and more of our issues and trying to find the right solutions in order for us to be more competitive. It might not be clear for the people outside the team, but we’ve been working extremely hard in order to extract more performance out of the car.”
On the other side of the garage, it will be a first experience racing in Brazil for de Vries. Ahead of the weekend he met up with Season 1 champion Nelson Piquet Jr, and shared a wholesome throwback from when Nelson raced in the F3 Masters Series.
“Brazil has a special and unique heritage in our sport, because of Ayrton Senna,” de Vries added. “It’s definitely a cool venue, and I’m looking forward to competing there.
“I think it’ll be a more energy sensitive track and offer the fans more of the ‘Formula E-style’ racing that they’ve seen in previous seasons.
“The break has been useful for us, to get the opportunity to analyse the work that we’ve done across the first two events. Internally, I do see that we are making those steps, we are creating more understanding, better structures, and processes.
“At the same time, we are making progress in the areas that we need to – obviously you can be better everywhere, but there have to be targets. I feel that we are collectively on the right path.”
SCHEDULE: Where, when and how to watch or stream the 2024 São Paulo E-Prix Round 4
The São Paulo E-Prix gets underway on Friday 15 March with Free Practice 1 at 16:25 local time.
WATCH: How to watch or stream Formula E's Sao Paulo E-Prix where you are
Then it's on to race day on Saturday 16 March as Free Practice 2 kicks off the day at 07:25 local, qualifying follows at 09:40 local with lights out on Round 4 at 14:00 local/17:00 UTC.
View the full schedule in your time zone and check the broadcaster listings or tap the Ways to Watch button above to find out where to watch all the racing action where you live.