The 28-year-old driver is back and this season he will compete for Mahindra Racing, a team that finished tenth last Season, but hopes to get back to winning ways.
In an official interview with Formula E de Vries talked about his return, expectations for next year and what Mahindra will be working on more this season.
Homecoming
“Clearly there was always an interest on my part to return to Formula E, which is why I decided to travel to the last race of the championship in season 9,” said de Vries.
“I decided to fly to London to get back to the paddock, meet up with old friends and see what it’s like again. That’s when Fred Bertrand [Mahindra CEO] and I met by chance,” he revealed.
Being absent from F1, De Vries understandably kept very busy. However, he still checked in with the championship to see how he was progressing and how his fellow racers were doing.
“I was still in some group chats,” he jokes. “I’m not active at all, at zero. But I was getting some feedback through these chats, but eventually they dropped me.”
De Vries tested the GEN3 car for the first time, after departing at the end of Season 8. In addition to pre-season testing in Valencia, he and the team have also done some private testing. Running alongside drivers who have a year of experience behind them, it could take some time to get fully up to speed.