The Dutch driver didn’t have the triumphant return to Envision he might have…envisioned before the start of the season. Starting from P7, Frijns had been on a short track for a good first day back at the office, at the same track where he broke his wrist in the inaugural round of the 2022-2023 season.
“Very unfortunate day, honestly. The day started really well, being quick in FP2, a good Quali but a mistake in the Duels meaning a start in P7, so you think “Not so bad, I’m having a good car.”
Photo credits: Formula E | Dom Romney
However, a number of issues began to pile on the former ABT driver, as his car didn’t start up properly at the green flag, making him drop back to P16. His race ended only seven laps after, after losing the back of his car and crashing into the barriers at Turn 17.
“But then at the start I’m not really sure what happened, the car went and stopped completely, and I lost ten places. So [I was] at the back of the field, at a track where overtaking is really difficult. You’re trying different things, and the balance was not good at all, I was struggling a lot.”
Luckiliy this crash won’t have the same long-lasted consequence of 2023, when Frijns had been forced to sit out the following four races, but the Dutch driver definitely wasn’t as impressed by the achievement:
“Then I lost the rear, it caught me by surprise. Definitely half a day to forget, really,” the Dutch driver concluded.
Jean-Eric VergneThe Frenchman reached yet another historical milestone in the championship he’s been a part of since its first season, dating back to 2014-2015.
With his P6 the two times Champion has scored over a thousand points in Formula E, and is the second driver to achieve the very impressive result after Lucas Di Grassi in 2022.
As per the race itself, the DS Penske driver had missed out on advancing to the Duels by a fraction of second, starting in P10. In spite of the difficulties in overtaking at the Circuit Hermanos Rodriguez, he managed to end the race in contention with Mitch Evans for a top 5 finish.
Photo credits: Formula E | Simon Galloway
Overall it was a positive day for Vergne, who summed up his Saturday after the end of the race:
” Good first weekend, scored some good points and had a good pace through the race. Obviously, very difficult to overtake on this track, but the pace showed we definitely could have had a better result.”
“ But starting from 10th it was a good result and a good start to the season. Now we start from here and we carry some nice improvement from last year, and everything feels a bit more settled in the team and with the car, so it gives me confidence for the rest of the season,” he concluded, looking forward to the next round in Diriyah.
Maximilian GuntherThe German driver in his second season with Maserati came incredibly close to secure yet another podiums for the team formerly known as Venturi.
After having the best season of his career in 2023 with the Italian outlet, scoring three podiums and his fourth race win, Gunther started the Mexico E-Prix in P3 due to the grid penalties served by Cassidy and Evans.
He held on to his starting track position in spite of the full course yellows and the safety car issued after the retirements of Frijns and Di Grassi, but ultimately had to surrender the final podium position to Cassidy while taking up his final Attack Mode of the day.
Photo credits: Formula E | Sam Bagnall
It was overall a great day for Maserati, considering the debut of Gunther’s new teammate Jehan Daruvala, the only rookie on the 2024 grid, went smoothly.
“A very good first weekend of the season for us with third in qualifying, fourth in the race, and some very good points. I think we showed some good pace here,” said the former Andretti driver reminiscing the 2023 double finish out of the top ten for him and Edoardo Mortara both.
“Mexico was very difficult for us last year, so to start the season with such a strong result now is very promising. I’m super happy for the whole team, and they did a great job.”
“The car felt amazing in qualifying, and it’s a shame that we lost the podium with the second Attack Mode, but we gave it our very best. I’m really happy with fourth today,” Gunther summed up.
