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It was a challenging weekend for the Andretti team in Monaco, with a disappointing qualifying and both of their drivers suffering damage to their front wings in separate incidents. Walking away with a single championship point, the team reflected on their race around their principality before heading to Berlin next week.
"Overall, it was a bit of a challenging weekend for us in Monaco,” reigning World Champion Jake Dennis said about the Monaco E-Prix. “We didn't come away with the result we set out for but nevertheless, before the contact we looked as if we were in a strong position.
“I think we probably could have achieved a top seven, which isn't too bad considering where we were starting from.”
Dennis’ qualifying was compromised when a left-front wheel nut failure occurred during a pit stop and prevented him from making the Duels. Starting from 18th, he made up plenty of positions and soon found himself in 10th until he made contact with the Envision Racing of Robin Frijns and sustained front wing damage. In dramatic scenes, Dennis was forced to limp back to the pits from the iconic tunnel and would ultimately finish down in 19th.
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“From here we’ll be working hard to rectify some of our issues going to Berlin,” he continued. “Ultimately, we're still there in both the Team’s and Driver’s championship, so we’re looking forward to Berlin."
On the other side of the garage, Norman Nato had similar issues. The Frenchman was moved from Group B to Group A for qualifying after Sam Bird broke his hand, and finished last in his group. By Lap 4 of the race, Nato also picked up front wing damage when he and Mahindra Racing’s Nyck de Vries made contact. He was able to pit under the Safety Car and work his way up the pack to finish in 10th to get a point.
“It was a difficult day for the team,” Norman added. “It seems that qualifying is our weakness this year and at a track like Monaco, it’s proven to make things difficult for us. It's not easy to come back from 19th on the grid, but we tried and maximised everything considering the front wing damage we suffered.
“We're not satisfied with finishing 10th, but the comeback after the incident was positive and clearly our race pace is strong. We just need to fix our qualifying and it will make our life much easier. We’ve got plenty to analyse and we know what we need to focus on."
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It was a similar point of view for Andretti Team Principal, Roger Griffiths, too: “We leave Monaco pretty disappointed. We weren't really on the pace this weekend with a disappointing qualifying for both cars. By our own high standards, having just one car in the top 10 is not good enough.
“There were a lot of circumstances outside of our control today and we ended up having both cars pit for front wing damage. We'll go back to base and have a good look at the data and rebuild from there. We're now third in the Team's Standings, and Jake drops to third too in the Driver’s Standings which at the halfway point of the season is promising. The plan now is to turn things around and focus on Berlin to get a strong result there."
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The Berlin E-Prix double-header gets underway on 11 and 12 May.