The team endured a difficult off-season, with cancelled tests restricting the amount of running it could do ahead of the Mexico opener while the ZF-designed Mahindra powertrain was also late in arriving.
Although performances in testing suggested that the team was not too far behind in terms of pace, the team was not able to optimise the running of its hardware, with di Grassi stating that the software running the car was "basic" and it had to make do with what it had.
