Envision Virgin Racing’s Managing Director, Sylvain Filippi has branded the Mexico City E-Prix as “bitterly disappointing”.
After a strong qualifying session from both Sam Bird and Robin Frijns, to start the race from fifth and sixth; the pair managed to move forward in the race and looked to be in contention for podium finishes.
Bird held onto second position for almost the majority of the race, only to lose control in the last few minutes of the race defending off Antonio Felix Da Costa, to finish the race in the wall.
The race for teammate Frijns came to a sudden halt. The Dutchmen was running in fourth and challenging for third place, but through no fault of his own, he was wiped out by Nyck De Vries who had a technical failure on going into the braking zone of Turn 1.
Frijns was later disqualified from the race, due to him not taking the required three attack modes, but again this was through no fault of his own as he was hit twice when he was trying to take them. Therefore, he ran out of the five times you could arm Attack Mode, which forced his disqualification.
Filippi knew that the team was capable of podium finishes which added to the disappointment.
“Today’s race has been bitterly disappointing, to know we could’ve come away with at least one podium – possibly two – is truly agonising.”
He also commented on the pace both drivers had and hoped to continue the intense performances in Marrakesh.
“We’ve shown throughout the weekend that we’ve had great pace and both drivers were making strong progress during the early stages. But, as we know, anything can happen in Formula E, and we’ll now concentrate on getting a strong points finish at the next race,” he said.
Being so close to securing a podium finish, Bird expressed just how disappointing the race was for him.
“I’m beyond gutted with today; we’d shown just how quick the car was this morning, and I was making great progress during the race – a podium finish was in our grasp.”
He added, “Losing it so close to the end of the race is heartbreaking, but it shows just how difficult this championship is, there’s just no room for error.”
There were similar emotions from teammate Frijns, who also believed he could have been in contention to be stood on the podium.
“Once again, luck was just not on my side here in Mexico. I’d made great progress during the race and believe I could’ve been up there on the podium today, but I was in the wrong place at the wrong time, and the incident with Nyck ended any chance of me scoring points today.”
The Dutchman is now focusing on the next round in Marrakesh in a few weeks.
“It’s a difficult day for the team, but with Marrakesh, just around the corner we’ve got to regroup and begin our preparation for the upcoming race.”