A tale of two Monaco E-Prix strategies, and how de Vries made his a winner

The first race of the Monaco E-Prix appeared to be a tale of two strategies between the top two starters: Polesitter Dan Ticktum’s long run before Pit Boost and Attack Mode, or Nyck de Vries’ early goes for both in the hope of an undercut.

The Mahindra driver prevailed, lapping in clean air before Ticktum’s pit stop to ensure that when the Cupra Kiro man emerged from the pit lane, he would be ahead. The plan wasn’t exactly entirely preconceived, with de Vries saying that whatever Ticktum did, he would do the opposite.

“Just to do the opposite, that was definitely part of the plan,” de Vries said. “Obviously, we needed the energy delta to be quick during the pit window, and yeah, it worked out all very well. But you know it's still got to be done, and I'm glad it worked out today.”

De Vries used his Attack Mode to get by Antonio Felix da Costa – who’d gone for the additional power and four-wheel-drive even earlier, on lap 15 – on lap 21, but while he’d saved some energy lapping behind Ticktum earlier in the race, he didn’t drop the hammer at the end, crossing the line with second-place finisher Mitch Evans in his mirrors.

“That was kind of done on purpose, because you can pull away, but then you hurt your energy in the remaining part of the race,” said de Vries. “I wanted to make sure that we stayed on similar levels as Mitch, or even slightly better, and I think that was very, very important, because we had the pace in the car, so we needed the energy, and that played out well.”

Having the speed and knowing when to apply it were both key to putting de Vries up front and keeping him there. Simon Galloway/Getty Images

The win ends a long wait for Mahindra – 1,756 days to be exact – since its last victory in Formula E. de Vries joined the team at the start of the GEN3 era in 2024 after making 11 starts across two season in Formula 1 with Williams and AlphaTauri, and as a past champion of the all-electric series, expectations were high upon his comeback. Mahindra, however, struggled for the first two years of the current regulations, having got just one podium the season before de Vries' arrival, and 10 points finishes across 32 races.

When the cars got their mid-cycle "Evo" refresh ahead of last season, instead of refining its existing car, Mahindra opted for a wholesale change. Allied with gradual staffing changes, the team began to enjoy an upturn in form.

De Vries took three second places last season with teammate Edoardo Mortara getting a further two, while it was a points threat in virtually every race. This season, while a mixture of bad luck and on-track incidents have kept him out of the picture so far, Mortara has finished on the podium twice and briefly led the championship during the Berlin weekend after taking pole for Race 1. A win, continued the elude the team though. until now.

“It’s absolutely incredible,” de Vries said. “It's been a long ride, coming back to Formula E in ‘24, we were a pretty long way away from thinking about winning races, and I think the past two years have been very strong.

“We've come from far and improved a lot, and I think we showed strong performance for a long time, so it was basically waiting for the moment to happen, and for it to happen today in Monaco is great, especially on our side of the garage. I think we've been a little bit on the receiving end in terms of challenges coming our way since the beginning of the season, but this makes up for a lot of it.”

With the race win monkey now off Mahindra’s back, it’d be reasonable to think they’ll now be coming thick and fast, but de Vries says that points finishes and consistency remain the focus for now.

“Ultimately we're really focused on consistently scoring solid points,” he said. “I think that's very important in this championship, but of course we love to add some wins to our name, and to do it together to give the team the reward they really deserve for all their hard work.”