Mahindra Racing's Lucas Di Grassi: New Home for 2023

As Lucas di Grassi joins Mahindra Racing for the 2023 ABB FIA Formula E season, he talks about the upcoming first race of the all-new Gen3 car era.  

As Season 9 of the ABB FIA Formula E World Championship approaches, I’m pleased to have joined the Mahindra Racing team, and along with that, now have the opportunity to write this column!

I’m enjoying life at Mahindra so far. They are a slick operation, with some skilled and talented people across the board, from the engineers to the mechanics. Our new CEO Fred Bertrand is joining us too from Season 9 – both of us coming to the team at an exciting time for Formula E.  We both have a huge ambition to succeed and push ourselves out of our comfort zone to get the best out of Mahindra, and I already feel very at home with the team as we aim to take on Season 9 together.

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And what better place to start than in the incredible Mexico City? I have won three times in Mexico (twice in Mexico City and once in Puebla). I was also disqualified from a fourth win – but we won’t go into that! The fans and the food are incredible, and the track is pretty awesome too. I love the atmosphere of a race weekend and you certainly get that in Mexico. It’s one of my favourite events of the year.

The first race of the new Gen3 era brings a challenge for everybody – the reliability of the car will be key and we, as drivers, will need to look after it as it is much more fragile than the previous versions. That means no contact or else you could ruin your whole race weekend! 

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We had a good test in Valencia back in December. It was important for me to integrate myself within the team for the first time and to learn how they do things. Learning from Oliver was crucial too – he has a lot of experience and I think we will make a good partnership going forward this year. We covered over 1,600kms between us at the test, so we have a lot of data to now work with ahead of the first round in Mexico. We have both been in the simulator at the factory in the UK too and, since the Christmas and New Year break, I have been working very hard to get my mind and body in the best shape they can be to be 100% ready for Mexico.

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