Winning Races- The Only Way Mahindra Can Excite Indians About Formula E: CEO Frederic Bertrand

The first Formula E racing season took place between 13 September 2014 and 28 June 2015, starting in Beijing and the series of 11 races ended in London. There were a total of 10 teams which included one Indian team too: Mahindra Racing. Founded in 2014, with its base in Banbury, United Kingdom, Mahindra Racing has been competing with an Indian flag from the start.

But if you go around asking youngsters across India about Formula E and Mahindra Racing, you will face polarising replies: someone may jump with all excitement while others may not have heard about Formula E at all. For starters, Formula E involves racing with electric cars, unlike the hugely popular Formula 1.

Having said that, one Formula E race was already hosted in India- at Hyderabad on February 11, 2023- the fourth round of season 9– which ended on July 30, 2023 in London after 16 rounds.

For Mahindra Racing, season 9 was difficult. Even the early ‘home crowd’ support in Hyderabad didn’t help much. The team’s drivers Lucas Di Grassi and Roberto Merhi did their best and finished at positions 18th and 20th respectively.

During the ABB FIA Formula E World Championship season 9, Frederic Bertrand, CEO and Team Principal of Mahindra Racing in an interaction with Debashis Sarkar, Editor– Technology, News18 shared what it would take for the popularity of Formula E to grow and more Indians to be interested in sport.

“Winning…winning! That’s the only way to gain recognition. That’s the good thing about sports. If we want people to recognise and to feel excited… we can just tell them- look’s how great it is and so, you should be excited. Sports don’t work like that. The only thing which may work is the moment we deliver on expectations. The moment we (Mahindra Racing) will start winning regularly and be at the forefront of the grid then people will start recognising us,” said Bertrand.

“Winning…winning! That’s the only way to gain recognition.

Adding further, he said, “We can be proud today about what Mahindra has done since the beginning because it’s really a huge thing for Mahindra to enter a championship with big names. But now we have to look at the next step- Mahindra is not just competing but also winning. That’s our goal at Mahindra Racing.”

While Mahindra is a big name in India, thanks to cars like XUV, Scorpio, Thar and others; outside India, Mahindra still needs to do a lot to attract more eyeballs. Having said that, getting a racing team is definitely one way to go. “I think Formula E is a good way to talk about what kind of technical job is done in India with respect to the electric platform and that Mahindra can make attractive cars and race against big names like Maserati, Jaguar, Nissan among others will definitely make the brand more appealing globally.

We have to look at the next step- Mahindra is not just competing but also winning. That’s our goal at Mahindra Racing

Talking about the team’s performance in season 9, Bertrand said, “This weekend has been very much like our season as a whole – filled with ups and downs. We had a great start to the weekend with a sixth-place finish for Lucas in race one, but today’s race was more complicated with the addition of the wet weather. Of course, it would have been good to have held on to our ninth place in the championship, but this was not a position we were happy fighting for in the first place. Next year is now the focus. We are glad this season is over, but we are taking what we have learnt and moving into a new phase of Mahindra Racing, with a new structure and renewed backing to allow us to be where we need, want and deserve to be.”