Felix Rosenqvist relishes Top 3 season result for himself and Mahindra

Felix Rosenqvist came into the Formula E championship with a strong CV of winning in every series he has competed in, around the globe.

The Swede didn't disappoint and continued the trend after he claimed his and Mahindra Racing's first win during the Berlin ePrix double-header.

The win together with four podiums, three poles and two fastest laps put him in strong contention for third (127) - despite four non-finishes in 12 races.

Eventually, he edged DS Virgin's Sam Bird (122) by five points to register a Top 3 result behind winner Lucas di Grassi and Sebastien Buemi, in his debut season in the all-electric championship.

The 25-year-old partnering with Nick Heidfeld, who was seventh in the standings with four podiums, helped the Indian outfit to third in the constructors' championship - its best result after finishing eighth and fifth in the two previous seasons.

"A good way to end the season, little bit bittersweet," he said. "Obviously, it would have been nice to end on top.

"But to be fair I was quite relieved getting third in the championship. My engineer reported where Sam was and I just tried to be safe."

After a mistake in Saturday's race, Rosenqvist bounced back with a pole and second place finish in the season's final race.

"I was very impressed by the team; Nick and I sat down with them for a long time last night [Saturday] and figured out how we needed to improve qualifying," he said.

"We made it happen and that was the key to starting from pole and controlling the race initially. Jean-Eric Vergne probably had the better strategy and was hungrier for the win."

"[The results] just shows that we are really strong. Mahindra took third in the championship and I took third in the drivers' championship - that's a very good year for all of us, we are all happy."

The Swedish driver was also crowned the eRace champion of the 2016/17 season, in the post-season prize gala held in Montreal.

Teammate Heidfeld was also happy to end the season with a fifth place finish in the final race, after a difficult start to the weekend.

"It’s a great end to the season for us and I’m delighted for the team. Finishing third in the Teams’ Championship was the main target.

"After I struggled so much yesterday and this morning in practice, I was very happy to be in Super Pole for qualifying and then to start from fourth in the race.

"I did a good job but it was a difficult weekend because I just couldn’t keep up with the pace of the cars in front. Finishing fifth was OK and I was able to secure some points.

"The race went pretty smooth, nothing crazy happened, but most importantly we finished in the top three in the Teams' Championship," added the German.

Team boss Dlibagh Gill was equally thrilled to see through the tough times in Season 3 and the previous years, to ensure the team builds on the success -
together with Campos Racing (who joined Mahindra in Season 2).

Post-season prize gala [Copyright: FIA Formula E]

Post-season prize gala [Copyright: FIA Formula E]

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