Roberto Merhi will be making his Formula E debut with Mahindra Racing at the Jakarta E-Prix this weekend. He’ll be replacing Oliver Rowland, who has parted ways with the Indian team for the rest of the season.
The double-header round will take place on June 3-4.
- Merhi replacing Rowland at Mahindra
- Only Jakarta outing confirmed so far
Ex-F1 driver Roberto Merhi joins Mahindra
Merhi participated in the Berlin rookie test for Mahindra alongside Jehan Daruvala and sim driver Jordan King. He’d earlier raced for Marussia in the 2015 F1 season, later switching to sportscar and endurance racing.
“Roberto has impressive experience in top-level racing and a good track record in major championships. He had a great run with us at the Rookie Test in Berlin last month and we could see he had the potential to become a great asset for the Mahindra Racing team,” said Mahindra Racing CEO Frederic Bertrand.
He added, “It’s not easy to jump in mid-season, but Roberto has experience of working with the team, so I’m sure he will slot into the team brilliantly.”
Will Daruvala make his Formula E debut?
It is understood that Mahindra initially wanted to promote reserve driver Jehan Daruvala to a race seat. However, the Jakarta race clashes with the F2 round in Spain.
The Indian driver got his first taste of driving the Mahindra M9Electro out on track at the Berlin rookie test last month. Daruvala revealed that he “got used to the car pretty quickly” and finished the test in the top 10.
Mahindra has carefully worded its official statement to stress that Merhi will only race at Jakarta for now. So this does leave the door open for Daruvala to make his Formula E debut at a future race. Barring the London Formula E finale, which is on the same weekend as the Belgian GP, the rest of the calendar has no more clashes either.
Rowland leaves Mahindra Racing
Mahindra says a “mutual agreement has been reached between Oliver Rowland and the team for him to step aside for the next seven races”. The news comes after Rowland injured his left hand following a crash in the Monaco E-Prix. However, this is unlikely to be the reason for his exit, since he’d already been given the clear to race.
Rowland joined Mahindra Racing full time last year and collected 32 of the 46 points the team scored in 2022. But 2023 has been a particularly difficult season for Mahindra and they’re currently 10th in the championship, with only customer team Abt behind them. Speaking after the Berlin E-Prix, Bertrand admitted the team was still struggling with efficiency.
Saptarshi Mondal
