Mahindra Racing diaries from New York

Last time out in Mexico, it was a standard Formula E weekend with highs and lows. It was a difficult start to Saturday after suffering a technical issue in practice, but we recovered amazingly and scored fourth place in the race and 12 points, which was incredible and a great reward for the effort that the whole team put in. Sunday was good fun and was looking decent until Andre Lotterer made contact with me and, eventually, the damage sustained caused us to have to end our race.

Looking back over the last five races, there have been a whole host of things that have not gone our way. But you have a choice; to get upset about it, or just crack on and keep working hard, and that’s what my and the team’s intentions are, and we start with this weekend’s double-header event in New York City.

The New York City track itself, which is in Brooklyn, is good fun and both my team-mate Alex Lynn and myself have had decent success there in the past. The only time I’ve raced there before in Season 5 was one of the highlights of the season for me, scoring my first Formula E pole and podium.

When you’re in a city like NYC, it’s always a real pinch yourself moment with Formula E. You race in these amazing cities with iconic landmarks and you’re driving on the streets around them; it’s always very special. In New York we can see the Manhattan skyline and the Statue of Liberty from the paddock.

The circuit itself, which runs around the streets of the Red Hook area of Brooklyn, is good fun. It’s a mixture of bumpy, tight, challenging corners with a couple of decent straights and overtaking opportunities and I really enjoyed it. It was a warm race, so also provides a thermal challenge from the battery point of view and we’re expecting that this year as well. It will be our first real thermal challenge of the season, so that adds an interesting element to it.

It’s critical in Formula E to have smooth race days and you’re only going to get good results from hard work, so hopefully that’s going to play out this weekend. I go to New York feeling optimistic that the ingredients are there for a strong result.

Keep an eye on the Mahindra Racing social channels to follow our performance over the weekend and to see exclusive and behind the scenes content. You can also Fanboost me, which gives me an extra boost of power during the race.You can find out all the information on how to do this at the Formula E website here: https://fanboost.fiaformulae.com