Mahindra Formula E Team Principal Fred Bertrand has outlined his vision over the future direction of the sport.
Following his team’s second podium finish at the season finale, Fred Bertrand spoke to Fastest Formula News in a roundtable.
Having spoken at length about Mahindra’s achievements in Season 11, the conversation shifted to Gen 4 in 2026.
Fastest Formula News asked where the Gen 4 car sat in the plan to return Mahindra to winning ways. He said building on this year’s achievements in Season 12 would prove critical to preparations in 2027.
However, he did joke that one major priority took precedence that evening.
“For the moment, before Gen 4, we have Season 12. Because we have a good car. We have a good team now, knowing and starting to know well the car.
“So goal number one is, how can we climb a few steps for 12? Because that’s definitely goal number one and target number one for everyone.
“No, target number one is a big party tonight.“
Questions over Mahindra in Gen 4
Fred Bertrand then revealed that he was not yet sure of how Mahindra will participate in the Gen 4 era.
“Then Gen 4, we know we will be in Gen 4. We don’t know in which form right now. Will we be manufacturer?
“Will we be as a team customer? We don’t know, but we know we will be there. So now the goal is to give as many elements as possible to Mahindra to make the best call and the best decision.
“But that’s their call and we have to wait. But we are still ready to do both.”
Concerns over Gen 4 costs
Asked about the costs of Gen 4, Bertrand gave his thoughts on the substantial increase expected for the new car. He spoke of the precarious tightrope that the sport faces walking across.
“If, you know, going into the future of Formula E, it feels like… I’ve described it as a roll over dice in Vegas because they want to obviously make this car very popular for fans and bring the audience in. But if it doesn’t work, the costs are going to go up and the reward might be little.”
“Where do I start? So, I would say… First of all, I think it’s good that we have a car which is giving another step because we see that the more we go, the faster we go, the more people start to say, wow, wow, wow.
“We still have the sound thing that makes some people say, but at the end, when we look at lap time, when we look at the feeling of speed and everything, it starts to be interesting. So if we can make a car which is much faster than the current one, I take it. That’s very interesting.“
“The second thing is, cost-wise, I agree with you that I’ve never seen a car going faster, costing less. But if you put it in the perspective of potential additional revenues or something which is positioning the championship in a direction where you can attract more, either sponsors or TVs or spectators or fans, etc., then it makes sense to try it because it’s a bit like a team today. If you go to your boss and you tell, okay, it’s fine, you give me the money at the beginning and I don’t give up, I will be okay.
“No, you won’t be okay. And I think for the championship, it’s the same. The thing which will be very important, I think, is what will be around the car, the full package, because it’s not only making a fast car which will be important.”
Costs just one part of Formula E’s “package”
Fred Bertrand explained the offer Formula E must put to its fans, as it continues its growth. He said that costs were just one aspect that the sport needed to account for on its journey.
“It is part of the package, but you need to be sure that behind that you have an attractive calendar, that you go racing to the nice places and the places where people feel that this is something special to Formula E and where you have really additional value.
“You need to make sure that you structure the team and the championship in a way where the team can have a higher value. We go to 10.
“I tend to like that we go to 10 and I would tend to like that we stay to 10 because it makes the championship a bit more compact on one side, but it makes that the value for each structure is growing instead of opening additional slots.
“If someone wants to come, they have to invest in the current ones. And I think that’s probably the second thing which will be very important is the stability and the health of each of the structures because if you have those type of investors, the costs are less an issue.
“I will not limit the championship by cost of car or cost of running of the car. Right now, for me, the limitation is how much we can attract additional money to fund our teams. How much or how can I convince my manufacturer right now or my owners to invest more because they like the product.
“And I think we had a lot of visitors this weekend and events like London, even if you can discuss a lot on the quality of racing and the quality of the track and blah, blah, blah, even if now I love it. But to podium, for me, it’s the best track of the season, honestly.“
Showcasing Mahindra’s offer to the fans
Bertrand confirmed that as part of the offer to fans, Formula E had to plan its future carefully. Everything from the calendar through to car performance has to be considered according to the Mahindra Team Principal.
He also gave his vision: that cities hosting an event should be the default choice for attendance as an event.
“For the first time as Mahindra, we put a car on track, which is the car we are building in India, not sold in Europe yet, but we were already happy to show to people that behind Mahindra, there is a full car company able to do top-level electric cars at a cost which is, by the way, so low. The more you can make it a very strong marketing tool, then the more it creates some sense.“
“So for me, increasing performance of cars, even if it has a little bit additional cost, not a real issue, as long as it goes with a package which globally creates value. Structure for the championship itself, quality of the calendar and the way you market it and you attract fans on the events and not only on TV. I know they are very focused on TV numbers.
“I personally push that. For sure, they have to do it, but I think they need to activate more the events themselves so that each time we go somewhere, this needs the place to be for the weekend. You go to London this weekend, in London, nobody should think that you should go somewhere else than here.
“I know that there was a bit of competition with some nice concerts and blah, blah, blah, but I think for me that’s the key element which will cover the problem of cost. Even if the problem of cost happens, it will not be 50% more. It will be maybe 5, 6, 10% and then Formula E has to give more prize money.
“Generally, I think we are still all together investing in the development of a global championship. That’s part of our goal and role. If we make that full package grow in terms of awareness and success, then value will be created. Then the value of our team will progress and then one day maybe you can make a lot of money.
“People forget that Formula 1 for so many years was losing so much money and a few years ago it was still the case and in a few years they have managed to transform the business case. Us, we exist since 11 years. We need to leave time a little bit for that and the fact that we can grow so quickly in terms of performance, I think it’s super exciting.
“The Gen 4 car looks very exciting. And even for drivers.”
