Sam Bird saw his London E-Prix come to an early end on Sunday evening, after an incident with Jehan Daruvula in the ninth lap of the race. Bird was driving on the inside of Daruvula, when the two had to go into Turn 6 together and made contact.
“Daruvula has come over and apologised”, Bird told Pit Debrief after the race. “Okay, he’s apologised, fine, but I mean… leave some room. If there’s a driver halfway down your inside… We could have both got around that corner easy, but he’s chosen to turn in for no reason. If there’s a car there, all you’re going to do is take both drivers out.“
The McLaren driver continued: “Sometimes, just drive smart. Leave other people have room and you’ll both get through a corner. So yeah, I’m very frustrated. The fact that I was racing with Oli, and Oli’s won the race… I was the lead Nissan in qualifying, and we get taken out. So yeah, disappointed.”
The stewards have been really strict this past weekend, and they have handed out quite a few penalties. Asked if he’s happy with that development, Bird replied: “Yeah, of course. A lot of things have been cancelled today, because it’s the end of the season. So it’s like down tools and go again next year. But yeah, I’m happy that they’re being more stringent on it.”
“Moving under braking is unacceptable, but also moving and turning in when somebody’s there is unacceptable. We’ve all got the same braking capability, we’ve got the same brakes, we’ve got the same aero and the cars weigh the same. If somebody is there, and you brake at the same point, they will not disappear. You can’t stop quicker. So that’s the problem right now.”
