Bird takes McLaren’s first Formula E win

SAO PAULO: Britain’s Sam Bird gave NEOM McLaren their first Formula E victory on Saturday with a last-gasp pass on former Jaguar team mate Mitch Evans in a Sao Paulo e-Prix.

The triumph also ended 37-year-old Bird’s 37-race winless streak in the all-electric series. The veteran driver, who has competed in every year of the series since it started in 2014, took the lead from Evans at the penultimate corner to beat the New Zealander by 0.564 of a second. Nissan’s Oliver Rowland took third place after passing Andretti’s reigning champion Jake Dennis and pole sitter Pascal Wehrlein at the last corner. Porsche’s Wehrlein was fourth and Dennis fifth.

Jaguar’s overall leader Nick Cassidy drew a blank after crashing into the wall on lap 16 with front wing damage while running in sixth place, with Wehrlein now only four points behind the New Zealander.

Cassidy has 57 points after four rounds, Wehrlein 53 and Evans 39. Jaguar lead the teams’ standings with 96 points to Porsche’s 61.

The win, in a race with two safety car periods, was the 12th of Bird’s career and first since New York in 2021 when he was with Jaguar.

“What a race that was, that was great,” he said. “I said on the radio ‘I think Mitch is struggling more than me with the temperatures’.” I was told to cool the car, then I saw the lift points and I thought ‘look, it’s now or never, I’ve got to go’.

“He defended the inside and gave me just enough room on the outside to have some kind of move. I don’t know how close it was to the wall, but it was fair racing and I got it done.”

Bird is the second oldest winner in the series’ history, behind Brazilian Lucas Di Grassi who was also 37 when he took his last win in London in 2022.