Mitch Evans: “I was hoping for a little more” from Mexico City

It certainly wasn’t the start to Season Nine nor Gen3 that Mitch Evans would’ve been hoping for, after Jaguar TCS Racing struggled at the season-opening race of the 2022/23 ABB FIA Formula E World Championship.

It was a weekend of surprises at the Mexico City E-Prix, as all the powertrain suppliers bar the TAG Heuer Porsche Formula E Team struggled at the Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez. Evans never looked truly comfortable during Free Practice, something that was highlighted in qualifying after the Season Eight Vice Champion failed to make it to the duels.

Evans started the first race of the Gen3 era in tenth place, after missing out on the duels by just five hundredths of a second. The race itself certainly wasn’t an eventful one by the all-electric series standards, with Evans having battled from tenth to claim eighth at the season opener, securing at least some points. Scoring points consistently is likely to be a huge factor this season, meaning his eighth-place finish could end up coming in handy come the end of the season.

Understandably, the New Zealander was “hoping for a little more” from the race, after being impressed by the Jaguar I-TYPE 6’s “great efficiency”.

I was hoping for a little more today as my Jaguar I-TYPE 6 had great efficiency which is really promising. I lacked a little balance which meant I couldn’t do as much with the energy advantage as I would have liked. I made some positions and scored some points today and we needed that as a team. We’ll come back stronger over the next few races.”

“It’s a big shame for everybody” – Sam Bird

On the other side of the Jaguar garage, it was a weekend to quickly forget for Sam Bird, who’s season is really yet to kick-off. The British driver entered the weekend full of optimism, following what was a horrific campaign for him last year.

His woes from last season appear to have followed him into Gen3, as Bird’s weekend was ridiculed by technical issues. He pulled-off the circuit during Free Practice Two following his first issue of the weekend, before then qualifying in twenty-first following a pure lack of running due to his issues.

By the time the race got underway, his lack of running during Free Practice had no effect on his result, as he once again pulled to the side of the circuit after yet another reliability issue. Bird retired on the fifth-lap of the race, as a result of an outbound drive shaft failure.

After retiring, Bird labelled the weekend as a “big shame” for the entire Jaguar team, with the weekend having gone completely wrong despite “so much hard work” having been done ahead of the season opener.

“It’s a big shame for everybody here at Jaguar TCS Racing because they have put in so much hard work and this weekend hasn’t gone to plan. I know that we’ve got a good package with our Jaguar I-TYPE 6 and we just need to make sure as a team that we minimise mistakes and iron out the issues that held us back here in Mexico. We will be able to bounce back and be ready to race again in Diriyah.”

Credit: Sam Bloxham courtesy of FIA Formula E