Sao Paulo E-Prix: Bird scores McLaren’s first Formula E win

Sam Bird pulled off a daring last lap overtake on Jaguar’s Mitch Evans to secure McLaren’s first-ever race win in Formula E. This Sao Paulo E-Prix win is Bird’s first since the 2021 New York E-Prix, ending a 37 race winless streak.

Nissan’s Oliver Rowland completed the podium, after passing both Jake Dennis and Pascal Wehrlein at the very last corner of the race.

1. Bird wins, 0.564sec ahead of Evans
2. Two Nissan-powered cars on podium
3. Daruvala finishes P15

Bird defeats Evans to win Sao Paulo E-Prix

After making his way up from fifth on the grid, Bird led the race at multiple stages. But he had to manage overheating concerns, giving Evans a chance to grab the lead in the closing laps.

Nevertheless, Bird couldn’t resist a last-ditch move on his former teammate. He passed Evans around the outside of Turn 10 and made the move stick into Turn 11 to secure victory. “I had to target at the beginning of the year to get a couple of podiums. I didn't expect to win. It was a great race between me and Mitch, my old teammate; it was really fair,” Bird said.

Evans had to settle for second place, taking his first podium of the season.

Behind the leading duo, Andretti’s Jake Dennis was trying to fend off Porsche’s Pascal Wehrlein in a battle for the final spot on the podium. Rowland capitalised on this and pulled off an incredible move at the very last corner, overtaking both Dennis and Wehrlein for third place. This made it two Nissan-powered cars on the podium, since McLaren also uses Nissan powertrains.

No points for Mahindra, Daruvala

Both Mahindra Racing drivers secured their best qualifying positions of the season so far, with Edoardo Mortara starting from seventh on the grid and Nyck de Vries starting from 14th. However, both cars picked up damage as the race progressed, and while Mortara recovered to finish P12, de Vries had to settle for P14.

“The dominant feeling is frustration, because we definitely deserved to score points this weekend,” said Mahindra Racing CEO and team principal Frederic Bertrand.

“That aside, I’m happy we have been able to deliver a proper qualifying, which was the target for the weekend. It’s good to get the feeling of participating in the duels for the first time in a long time. As far as the race is concerned, the pace was there despite very difficult conditions, but it wasn’t a perfect execution from our side. It put us in a bad situation, fighting closely with other cars and being very exposed to any mistakes or incidents. Unfortunately, this is what happened and that’s where we lost any chance of scoring points. Now we’ll head to Tokyo, with the objective of scoring points there.”

The extreme energy saving conditions of the Sao Paulo E-Prix saw Maserati’s Jehan Daruvala – the only rookie on the Formula E grid this year – fall down the order as well. But he managed to gain three places on the last lap to finish P15.

“Today’s race wasn’t easy at all. It was my first experience of Formula E’s peloton style, and it isn’t what I expected, but it was good to get some more laps under my belt and I feel like I learned a lot,” said Daruvala. “After four races, I feel quite confident in the car, especially in qualifying. My goal now is to improve my long-run pace. If I can do that, I think we could be in with a shot at points in Tokyo, which will be a new circuit for everybody.”

2024 Formula E championship standings

Championship leader Nick Cassidy crashed out on Lap 16. As a result, his overall lead has now been slashed to just four points from Wehrlein. Evans is third overall, 18 points behind teammate Cassidy.

Formula E will now head to Japan for the first ever Tokyo E-Prix on March 30.

2024 Sao Paulo E-Prix results

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