Despite disappointment over missing a win, Mortara buoyed by Mahindra progress

Edoardo Mortara was disappointed to miss out on the win in the Jakarta E-Prix despite claiming his first podium for the resurgent Mahindra team.

Mortara finished behind Dan Ticktum after remaining on his tail for the final five laps after a late full course yellow, unable to get by on the tight and slippery Jakarta street course, and he felt that had there not been the late race interruptions – a safety car for debris after his teammate Nyck de Vries collided with Jake Dennis, then two FCYs for Jake Hughes' stopped car and another for Stoffel Vandoorne's crash at Turn 16 – which dampened the benefit of his Attack Mode power boost, he would’ve been in a better position to snatch first.

“I was disappointed for the team, because I think that we should have got both cars on the podium,” Mortara said. “I was lucky and unlucky, let's say. Before the second Attack Mode, yes, I was in front of Dan, and I think that if there were no interruptions, we would have had a good chance of finishing in front of him.

“But we were also very lucky, the two guys in front of us [Dennis and de Vries] stopped … and in the end, I believe that when you finish on the podium, that means that your day was quite good.

“I felt that there was definitely more potential in the car, in quality and in terms of pace. I also felt very strong, and this is what I will keep also for the next race weekends, because we showed really good potential today.”

Mortara’s podium is the second – following de Vries’ second place in the first Monaco race – this season for Mahindra, which has bounced back after a trying three years where it failed to crack 50 points. This season it has 121 with four races remaining.

“I would say that there is no one single factor,” he said of the team’s upturn in form. “It's two years since the beginning of Season 10 that we are working flat out trying to improve our operation side, but also software development, hardware development. The team did a tremendous job on developing everything, and we are showing race, race by race, that we are improving our our package.

“It's a process that is continuing, and I hope that we're going to see even more updates to our package in the last two race weekends.”