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Sao Paulo E-Prix: Bird seals McLaren's first Formula E win with last-lap pass

Bird had led at various points during the Brazilian event having started fifth on the grid, but was forced to concede the lead to Evans six laps from the end as energy management and overheating became critical.

But on the final tour of the 34-lap race - which was extended by three laps following two safety-car periods - Bird made his move, having shadowed Evans.

Approaching the fast left-hand kink of Turn 10, Bird moved to the outside as Evans defended and he  completed the move around the outside into the 90-degree left of Turn 11 to take the lead on the penultimate bend.

It marks Bird’s first Formula E victory since 2021, when he won in New York with Jaguar, having lost his seat with the British brand for this season.

Evans took his first podium of the season in second, while behind there was a final corner change of position as Oliver Rowland made it back-to-back podiums for Nissan, a beautiful switchback on the final bend allowing him to pass both Jake Dennis and Pascal Wehrlein.

Polesitter Wehrlein was completely unchallenged off the line and pulled out a significant lead on the opening lap, while Stoffel Vandoorne maintained station behind in second.

Pascal Wehrlein, Porsche, Porsche 99X Electric Gen3, Stoffel Vandoorne, DS Penske, DS E-Tense FE23, Antonio Felix da Costa, Porsche, Porsche 99X Electric Gen3 (Photo by: Sam Bagnall / Motorsport Images)

Evans jumped into third up the inside of Jean-Eric Vergne, but the big mover was Antonio Felix da Costa, who had moved into sixth from eighth by the end of lap one.

The Portuguese driver was flying and, by the end of lap two, had passed Bird, Vergne and Evans to move into third, which became the lead at the start of the third lap as Wehrlein and Vandoorne took the first of two Attack Modes.

The German only dropped to third while Vandoorne slipped to sixth as the peloton style of racing, where sitting in the slipstream to conserve energy and which had been so prominent in Brazil last year, once again returned.

By the time a safety car was deployed to retrieve debris off the circuit, notably Norman Nato’s front wing after contact with Nico Muller into Turn 1, Bird found himself as one of the only leading runners to have taken both Attack Modes.

It put him in a strong position as he sat in the slipstream of those in front, which was headed by da Costa, Wehrlein and Vergne when racing resumed on lap nine.

Over the next few laps, both Evans and reigning champion Dennis headed the field before dropping back after taking both Attack Mode activations and, by lap 15, Bird was back in the lead from Evans, Wehrlein and Dennis.

Behind the leading four, championship points leader Nick Cassidy had struggled to make progress from his starting position of ninth.

The Jaguar driver had damaged his front wing earlier in proceedings and it proved to have disastrous consequences as the offending bodywork became lodged under his tyre through the quick Turn 10 kink.

The loss of control sent him into the wall, bringing out a second safety car, which offered Bird and those behind the chance to save vital energy.

With energy management less critical once racing resumed, drivers noticeably defended their positions with overtakes few and far between.

But, with Evans suffering a battery derating issue due to the exceedingly hot conditions, the Kiwi lacked top speed and admitted he ‘was a sitting duck’ on the final lap.

Behind the top five, da Costa claimed his first points of the year in sixth ahead of Vergne and Vandoorne.

Maserati MSG’s Maximilian Guenther made a remarkable recovery after serving a 10-second stop/go penalty having been handed a 40-place grid penalty due to changing parts prior to qualifying.

The German finished ninth with Sebastien Buemi completing the top 10 as both he and Envision team-mate Robin Frijns suffered with overheating tyres.

Race result:

   
1
 - 
4
   
   
1
 - 
2
   
Cla Driver # Laps Time Interval km/h Points Retirement
1 United Kingdom S. Bird McLaren 8 34

53'03.071

    25  
2 New Zealand M. Evans Jaguar Racing 9 34

+0.564

53'03.635

0.564   18  
3 United Kingdom O. Rowland Nissan e.Dams 22 34

+3.540

53'06.611

2.976   15  
4 Germany P. Wehrlein Porsche Team 94 34

+3.629

53'06.700

0.089   15  
5 United Kingdom J. Dennis Andretti Formula E 1 34

+3.722

53'06.793

0.093   10  
6 Portugal A. Felix da Costa Porsche Team 13 34

+5.567

53'08.638

1.845   8  
7 France J. Vergne DS Penske 25 34

+6.006

53'09.077

0.439   6  
8 Belgium S. Vandoorne DS Penske 2 34

+6.817

53'09.888

0.811   4  
9 Germany M. Gunther Maserati Racing 7 34

+8.085

53'11.156

1.268   2  
10 Switzerland S. Buemi Envision Racing 16 34

+8.610

53'11.681

0.525   2  
11 France S. Fenestraz Nissan e.Dams 23 34

+9.277

53'12.348

0.667      
12 Switzerland E. Mortara Mahindra Racing 48 34

+9.762

53'12.833

0.485      
13 Brazil L. di Grassi Team Abt 11 34

+10.819

53'13.890

1.057      
14 Netherlands N. de Vries Mahindra Racing 21 34

+13.677

53'16.748

2.858      
15 India J. Daruvala Maserati Racing 18 34

+14.379

53'17.450

0.702      
16 Brazil S. Sette Camara ERT Formula E Team 3 34

+17.511

53'20.582

3.132      
17 United Kingdom D. Ticktum ERT Formula E Team 33 34

+17.884

53'20.955

0.373      
18 France N. Nato Andretti Formula E 17 34

+18.889

53'21.960

1.005      
19 Netherlands R. Frijns Envision Racing 4 34

+19.124

53'22.195

0.235      
dnf United Kingdom J. Hughes McLaren 5 31

+3 Laps

49'27.979

3 Laps     Retirement
dnf Switzerland N. Müller Team Abt 51 25

+9 Laps

41'45.422

6 Laps     Retirement
dnf New Zealand N. Cassidy Jaguar Racing 37 14

+20 Laps

22'38.676

11 Laps     Retirement
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