Formula E Sao Paulo E Prix: Sam Bird takes McLaren's Maiden Win in Formula E

17/03/2024 19:15

After a 7 WEEK break, Formula E returned to our screens on March 15th and 16th with a lot of storylines heading into this race weekend, it is safe to say that we got our bang for our buck in terms of excitement!

Race Recap

The race started off with Pascal Wehrlein starting from pole after beating Stoffel Vandoorne in the Final Duel by 0.002 of a second! It was absolutely blockbuster content before we even went racing in Sao Paulo. Once we went racing, there was a lot of chaos. Wehrlein lead the field from Vandoorne in P2 and Micth Evans managed to jump up to P3 after overtaking Jean-Eric Vergne who started in P3. Wehrlein managed to stay in the lead throughout the early parts before the attack mode came in with Bird managing to make his way up to P6. Da Costa then managed to make his way up to P3 before Guenther had to take a 10 second stop and go penalty due to exceeding his allocated components. This meant he had a 20 place grid penalty AND the 10 second stop-and-go penalty. Dennis attempted to make his way up the field with Bird then managing to make his way up to P1. Once Bird took his attack modes, he stayed in P1. There was quite a lot od debris due to collisions which happened earlier in the race which then led to a safety car coming out. This spelt disaster in terms of attack mode for drivers including Bird, Buemi and Daruvala whereas Wehrlein, Vergne and Guenther were pleased. 

At the safety car restart, Bird managed to retake the lead from Evans with Da Costa in P3 and his teammate of Wehrlein in P4. Several laps on, Nico Mueller managed to get a black and orange flag due to his front wing going under his car. Before Nico pitted, the entire grid was seperated by under 9 seconds! The Andretti driver of Norman Nato then receieved a 5 second penalty for causing a collision. Dennis managed to get up to P1 after many overtakes and attack modes before we saw a yellow flag for the championship leader of Nick Cassidy crashing out due to his front wing hitting his car. He was okay after the crash but it was a nasty hit against the wall. 

By the time we got to lap 17 out of 31, before added laps, Bird was leading ahead of his old teammate Mitch Evans in P2, Wehrlein in P3, Dennis, Da Costa and Vergne rounding out the top 6 with Rosland, Vandoorne, Guenther and Buemi occupying the final places of the field. Once we went green, Bird held onto the lead with everyone in the top 10 apart from Buemi having used both of the attack modes.  Drivers such as De Vries and Hughes had to take their second attack mode and, as a result, fell down the grid. 

Nico Mueller then stopped on track which brought out a yellow flag but he managed to get the car started again. Towards the end of the race, Evans managed to take the lead before it was announced that there would be 3 added laps. Rowland managed to make his way up to P5 ahead of Da Costa before the final lap. On the final lap, Bird was chasing Evans down for the win. Bird managed to make a move stick in the final sector of the track to take McLaren’s first win in Formula E! That was not where the drama ended however, as we had retirements from Hughes, Mueller and Cassidy, Sette Camara was disqualified due to an overuse of power! All of the results are down below!

Sao Paulo E-Prix Race Results

Formula E Season 10 Championship After Round 4

Most Impressive Race

I think there are a lot of candidates for this part of the article but I am going to go with Max Guenther. He started in P22, had a 10 second stop-and-go penalty and STILL managed to get 2 points in a competitive field. While yes, the safety cars caused by debris and Nick Cassidy did definately play to his advantage (apart from him using attack mode before the safety car came out), he still had to go through the field and battle many drivers.

Driver who needs to improve the most after Sao Paulo

After Sao Paulo, I feel like Norman Nato needs to step up a little bit. He had a few collisions which he was penalised for as well as starting further down the grid in comparison to his teammate. While his teammate may be a Formula E World Champion and embedded at that team, Norman needs to show that he can do his part to help the team and manufacturers in the championship, otherwise questions could be raised given the drivers who are not in as competitive machinery as the Frenchman.