The beleaguered Sam Bird was left ruing another zero score despite having a generally strong Portland E-Prix, as he heads into what could be the final races of his three-season stint as a Jaguar Formula E driver.
A fifth consecutive non-score for Bird felt particularly bruising given he had got into a promising position to join the leading trio of eventual winner Nick Cassidy, Jake Dennis and Antonio Felix da Costa as the race entered its final laps.
Bird had a particularly remarkable run in a bizarre race that took this season’s extreme energy-saving ‘peloton’ packs to new heights, with drivers running up to five abreast and trying not to lead or even to use full throttle as they conserved energy for a final sprint at a track that offered barely any opportunities to lift-and-coast.
Starting from a lowly 15th on the grid, Bird dropped to 20th and last on lap 17 of the eventual 32 before blasting up to third two laps later. It was unquestionably the biggest position swing in Formula E history over such a distance.
“I genuinely think I could have got a podium today but unfortunately it’s just one of those things, one of these races that is difficult to really understand at the end,” a clearly frustrated Bird told The Race.
“I was kind of surrounded by the wrong people at the wrong time which stopped my progress.”
Bird’s team-mate Mitch Evans retains a title chance, having come through from the back of the grid to fourth at Portland, though he’s now 32 points behind leader Jake Dennis with just the Rome and London double-headers to go. Bird is a distant ninth in the championship.
The need to protect Evans led to some feisty radio traffic between Bird and Jaguar engineer Phil Ingham in the closing stages at Portland, particularly once Sebastien Buemi got between them.
Bird’s radio exchange
Sam Bird: Tell him to go, man. Either I’m going or he’s going. Come on. Phil Ingram: Yeah, go forward with Mitch. Look after him. SB: I’ve got more pace than him!
SB: Because I was defending from Mitch I get done by Seb. Thanks, guys!
Then while fighting for fifth position in the closing laps Bird clashed with Max Guenther’s Maserati at the first turn complex. Despite Bird insisting it was a racing incident and no more, the stewards believed otherwise and dished out a five-second penalty which dropped him from a seventh placed finish to outside the points in 17th.
That decision left Bird fuming.
“The penalty, oh my God the penalty,” he said.
“But then he’s done exactly the same to me the next lap, and he’s finished in front of me and I get the penalty and two penalty points.
“We’re talking about [racing] against a guy that will just fight for his life and just carry on driving around the outside and then it looks like I’ve driven him off.
“Sorry, but he wasn’t going anywhere but off the track [anyway], so, I don’t know. I really don’t know.”
Bird faces the prospect of being replaced at Jaguar by Portland winner Nick Cassidy for next season, and feels his 2023 campaign has been soured by repeated poor luck when in strong positions.
“It’s like, what more can go wrong this year?” he wondered.
“I don’t know what I’ve done, whether I’ve stepped on a load of black cats, broken a load of mirrors, crossed the road the wrong way. I just don’t know what I need to do to break it.
“I thought it was an OK race, to come seventh, and even that I was annoyed with because I felt like I could have come a lot higher up but I had to play carefully.”
As well as his two collisions with team-mate Evans in Hyderabad and Jakarta, Bird has suffered more than his fair share of misfortune – with a non-start at Cape Town after a shambolic red flag procedure triggered a crash, and another non-start in the second Jakarta race when a powertrain issue caused by an outsourced component failure.
With current Envision driver Cassidy looking primed to take Bird’s seat in 2024, one of Formula E’s most experienced and decorated drivers is facing the prospect of looking for what would only be his third team in 10 years in the series if he wants to continue his FE career.
Avalanche Andretti and Mahindra presently appear to be the most likely routes for Bird to find a berth should he not be retained by Jaguar.
Keyword: ‘My God, the penalty’ – More angst as Bird faces Jaguar exit