Mahindra Racing’s Felix Rosenqvist had to settle for the consolation prize of fastest lap after an issue in the pits cost him a decent points haul to follow up his maiden podium in Marrakesh last time out.
Getting used to the new track was no issue for the rookie, putting his Mahindra second in practice two, but qualifying just didn’t click for Swede as he qualified eighth; still comfortably ahead of his experienced teammate Nick Heidfeld however.
In the race, Rosenqvist made his way up to seventh and found himself in the midst of what turned out to be a tasty midfield battle before everything went wrong during in the mandatory pit stop. A Battery Management System (BMS) error in the second car meant the car would not start, leaving him stranded in the pits for a prolonged period of time, effectively ending his race.
With nothing else to fight for, the team finally got the second car going and the Swede set about sealing the point on offer for fastest lap, which he would achieve in the latter stages of the race with a 1m09.467s, which is a new lap record.
“This race ended in a little bit of frustration for us, but overall I’ll actually take a lot of positives away from here,” said Felix Rosenqvist.
“It went really well in the first stint on a very long strategy, where we aimed at conserving our energy but still maintained strong pace lap time-wise. Unfortunately, we had a BMS error in the pit stop that meant the second car wouldn’t start, and the only thing we could do from then on was push for the fastest lap, which eventually we got. It’s one point to take away, but still very frustrating given the pace we had around here in basically all the sessions. We have to learn it the hard way, but I want to get back on the podium and there should be every possibility to do that sooner rather than later.”
