Sam Bird: “There was a podium on offer today”

It was a very solid weekend at the Diriyah E-Prix for Sam Bird, as the British driver truly got his season underway, after retiring at the season opener of the 2022/23 ABB FIA Formula E World Championship.

After qualifying third and then finishing third in the first race of the double-header at the Riyadh Street Circuit, the second day of action in Diriyah was much more challenging. The thirty-six year-old staggeringly failed to make it into the duels ahead of the second race, despite having looked so fast on Friday. Bird ultimately had to settle for ninth on the grid; however, he didn’t remain there for long.

The Jaguar TCS Racing driver showed excellent pace during the second race and arguably had the best energy management, to the point where he was concerning Pascal Wehrlein and Jake Dennis at the front. However, a late Safety Car ruined Bird’s chances of victory, as he still had to take both his Attack Modes in the final few laps of the race.

He was in contention for a podium and seemingly should’ve claimed third, had it not been for the British driver running wide at Turn Eighteen after attempting a move on René Rast. In the end he had to settle for fourth as well as the fastest lap of the race; however, he recognises that “there was a podium on offer”.

“I’m incredibly happy with the pace of the car and that I was able to secure the fastest lap in Diriyah but there was a podium on offer today. We had great efficiency but after the safety car, the race became a flat-out sprint which makes it really challenging to overtake. We’ve learned a lot this weekend and now onto one of our home races in Hyderabad.”

“Wrong place at the wrong time” – Mitch Evans

On the other side of the Jaguar garage and it was overall a frustrating weekend for Mitch Evans, who was unable to make the most of the Jaguar I-TYPE 6’s strong pace.

There was absolutely no doubt all weekend in Diriyah that Evans had pace, with the New Zealander having qualified sixth for Race One and second for Race Two. However, he was seemingly in the “wrong place at the wrong time” in both races, after being involved in two incidents. In Friday’s race, Evans was weirdly awarded a five-second time penalty for having been deemed at fault for an opening corner collision between Oliver Rowland and António Félix da Costa, with the Jaguar driver having caused a concertina bumper-car effect after rejoining the circuit, after running wide.

This penalty resulted in the Season Eight Vice Champion finishing tenth in Race One, despite having had the pace and performance for better. Race Two started much better for Evans, who led the early stages of the race. He ultimately lost the lead after taking his Attack Modes at the wrong time, bumping him down the order. Evans was challenging Jake Hughes for fifth late on but actually ended up finishing seventh, with the twenty-eight year-old having lost sixth to Sébastian Buemi, after effectively pushing Hughes across the finish-line.

With both incidents having been avoidable, Evans left Saudi Arabia frustrated, with things still not going as the driver would like them to.

“I had a good start on both days and have had good pace all weekend but it still hasn’t worked out the way we wanted it to. It’s not flowed for me this weekend and I have often been in the wrong place at the wrong time. We’ll go away, look at the data and move onto the next race.”

Credit: Alastair Staley / LAT Images