What seemed like a promising start ended up being a lower than expected result for Bruno Senna at the opening of the second season of Formula E. The Brazilian Mahindra Racing dropped 7th on e.Prix in Beijing, rose to 5th in the early laps, but later he succumbed to problems and completed the 26 laps in 13th position. The winner was the Swiss Sébastien Buemi, while Lucas do Grassi and German Nick Heidfeld, Bruno’s mate, finished on the podium.
“It was a tough start, but the important thing is that the potential is there. My car has never had as good a balance as this weekend. The 3rd Nick’s place is also an example how we must fight for the points along the championship” analyzed Bruno. According to him, the difficulties began with a problem in radio communication even in the early laps. “Only after some time radio was functional work and we could set the strategy,” he said.
Bruno entered the pits in the middle of the race for the car exchange and one procedural penalty cost 15 seconds longer than usual. In turn, because of an accident, he was forced to drive within the limit of 50 km / h for a full back, missing the chance to go back to the zone points. This delay undertakes the race, because the riders who were in other range points remained at the normal rate.
Mahindra driver gave signs of performance growth on e.Prix in Beijing. Still, also faced a tough journey in the Chinese capital. “We had to replace three batteries of four cars. The workload was heavy and it had some influence” he said. Even if everything had worked satisfactorily, Bruno acknowledged that the e.DAMS would be an unlikely target. “They are in another category, both in efficiency and in rate of return.”
The calendar will again be moved in 5 day in Putrajaya, Malaysia. Before that, Bruno will travel to Mexico, where he will perform as a technical analyst functions of the English TV Sky Sports in England in Formula 1 next weekend.