In an exciting turn of events, the winner of the São Paulo E-Prix was decided by a last-lap pass, which secured the first win for a team that has recently joined the grid. Let’s hear all about what went down in Brazil straight from the main characters.
Sam Bird
The British driver returned to win a race after two difficult seasons in a very emotional manner. Having started from P5, the NEOM McLaren driver had made his way up to the podium positions at the beginning of the race, finding his way to the top spot by the halfway point of the session.
However, staying at the front for several laps in a peloton race had significantly affected his energy consumption, allowing former teammate Mitch Evans to overtake him with on lap 28. The battle between the former Jaguar duo was far from over, however.
Bird secured his first podium and win for the team he joined at the beginning of the 2023-2024 season with a stunning last-lap pass over the Kiwi driver, which he then described in an interview after the end of the race:
“I said on the radio, ‘I think he’s struggling’ and I was told to cool the car, and then I saw the lift points and I thought ‘well 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 we got it done.”
The experienced driver who had last won in New York in 2021 was very pleased with his approach to the event, and went on to praise everyone at his new papaya team:
“What an outstanding result for myself and for NEOM McLaren to get our first victory together. It’s particularly special doing it here in Brazil, home of Ayrton Senna and supported by Emerson Fittipaldi on the podium.
“This is a great reward for everyone who has worked so tirelessly with the team since the very beginning – I joined for NEOM McLaren’s second year and I’ve seen so much progress already. I couldn’t be prouder of every single person in the team,” he added, recalling the moment when the illustrious motorsport name had joined Formula E, taking over the former Mercedes EQ team.
He also took the time to praise the very positive effort of Nissan, the powertrain supplier that was able to have two cars on the podium after a very tough race:
“A big thank you to Nissan as well, our powertrain suppliers, for continuing to improve and providing us with the powertrain capable of doing what we did today. I’m looking forward to continuing to celebrate, and we’ll focus on Tokyo in a few weeks’ time.”
Photo Credit: Formula E | Simon Galloway
Mitch Evans
The Kiwi driver was finally able to score his first podium of Season 10 after seeing his teammate always on the podium at the first three events, but his joy was impacted by what could have been.
Having missed out on a P3 in Round 2 in Diriyah due to a botched last-lap move that saw him conceding two track positions, a strong overall performance wasn’t maximised once again because of a final lap overtake.
The Jaguar driver lost the top spot he had been holding on since Lap 28 to his former teammate Sam Bird, whom he praised in his post-race interview:
“I’m really happy for Sam, he’s had a tough few seasons so to see him get a win again in his new colours – he looks good in orange – I’m super happy for him. Got some good points.”
Jaguar is leading the manufacturers’ standings with a positive advantage of over thirty points, and Evans has moved up to P3 in the drivers’ championship, closing up on his teammate and championship leader Nick Cassidy.
“I would have taken second coming into this weekend just in terms of my championship position, but the win was right there…. I just had no power, so he would have got me to the line anyway, I was a bit of a sitting duck,” Evans concluded, definitely hoping for an even more significant result and less battery overheating problems in the upcoming Tokyo round.
Photo Credit: Formula E | LAT Images
Oliver Rowland
It’s a surprising second podium in a row for the Nissan driver, he executed a last-lap move as well. Reigning champion Jake Dennis had been in control of the final podium position in the closing stages. But he ultimately found himself struggling with overheating in the final, decisive turns of the race. Such was the loss of pace, the overheating negated his energy advantage over everyone around him.
The Andretti driver’s issues ultimately favoured the Brit, as well as polesitter Pascal Wehrlein, as both drivers managed to find their way past him.
Rowland was extremely satisfied with his day and performance as he said after the end of the race.
“The race was crazy, there was so much to manage in terms of temperatures… I managed to do well in the beginning to get up to seventh, and honestly when I was there, I was quite happy to just score some points but the car was really good. I could carry the speed in the corners, and we had a good strategy so everything was just under control, I think you could see that at the end.”
The former Mahindra driver also recalled the circumstances which led to the surprising P3 finish. Wehrlein and Dennis went at it into the final corner, and it opened the door for Rowland on the exit as he passed both of them.
“On the last lap I saw the two drivers ahead battling really hard, which allowed me to catch up, and I just went for it at the final corner and grabbed the position on the run to the line, which was amazing for us. Looking forward to Tokyo now, our home race and we’ll be hoping for a similar result in front of the Japanese fans.”
Photo Credit: Formula E | Simon Galloway
