Everything changed again in São Paulo: In the fourth race of the 2024 season, Sam Bird clinched one of the most dramatic victories in Formula E history - with a breathtaking maneuver in the very last corner against his former teammate Mitch Evans from Jaguar TCS Racing. This marked NEOM McLaren's first win in the ABB FIA World Championship and Bird's first with the new "orange" team.
Even Bernie Ecclestone was on site
The race resembled a wild cauldron and saw a total of 212 overtakes. It was watched by tens of thousands of fans in Brazil's most populous city. Even racing legend Bernie Ecclestone made an appearance, along with local heroes Felipe Massa and Emerson Fittipaldi.
Sam Bird established an early lead in São Paulo and strategically used Attack Mode to stay in the leading group, where Pascal Wehrlein and Mitch Evans were also fighting. Here too, the Jaguar and Porsche powertrains demonstrated their strength. During the race, fifteen (!) competitors were closely bunched, with minimal time differences emphasizing the intense competition: the lead constantly changed hands between Bird, the Porsches of Wehrlein and his teammate António Félix da Costa, the Jaguar of Mitch Evans, and Jake Dennis (Andretti Formula E).
The course is one of the fast, energy-consuming tracks
Not easy: Managing energy, as the Anhembi Sambadrome Circuit in São Paulo features long straights and wide sweeping curves and is thus one of the “fast” and hence energy-consuming tracks in the Formula E calendar. Two safety car phases – including one for the recovery of Nick Cassidy's Jaguar - the New Zealander crashed dramatically into the wall in lap 16 – turned the rest of the race into a single sprint to the finish. And as the laps counted down, Bird and Evans seemed to be getting better and better. Dennis was in third place, with 1.5% more usable energy in hand compared to the leading duo, but: His car was too hot to utilize it.
Evans had everything wrapped up – sort of….
In the last seven laps, including three additional laps for the safety car periods, Evans seemed certain of victory, especially after he pulled off a wild maneuver in turn three, passing Bird on the outside. However, Bird was far from giving up: Painfully aware that he hadn't won since the race in New York City in 2021, Bird made one last maneuver against Evans, his old sparring partner and Jaguar teammate: He went completely on the outside of turn 10 – seeing it as his last chance to win. He then stayed fully on the throttle to shoot into the inside line of turn 11 – taking the lead! It succeeded, and he crossed the finish line just over half a second (!) ahead of Evans. Undoubtedly one of the best maneuvers and most successful race finishes in the 10th season of Formula E.
High temperatures made it tough for everyone
Everyone struggled with the temperatures, with the Nissan powertrains (also used by McLaren!) appearing to hold up. Because not only were Dennis' temperatures critical, and the Porsche-powered Andretti had to persevere until the end, which allowed Oliver Rowland (Nissan Formula E Team) to clinch third place: While the defending champion tried to fend off Wehrlein, the Yorkshire-born Rowland managed to overtake both in the final corner, sprinting to the finish in third, while Wehrlein passed Dennis behind him to secure fourth place.
This time, Nissan itself was also strong: After a tight qualifying session, in which Rowland and his teammate Sacha Fenestraz took starting positions eleven and fourteen, the two Nissan drivers showed solid race pace and largely stayed out of trouble. Rowland steadily moved forward during the race. The Brit entered the final phase in seventh place, where he made up two more places with two good maneuvers. Rowland took advantage of the subsequent battle between the two leading drivers to slip past them on the inside in the final corner and secure third place. The French-Argentinian driver Fenestraz battled in a tight field and made up several positions after a difficult start. However, he missed the points ranks by finishing in eleventh place.
"It was almost as if the season was starting all over again after such a long break between races. The qualifying was somewhat frustrating: we were not able to win the duels," explained Tommaso Volpe, team manager of the Nissan Formula E team, and added:
"The race strategy was aimed at scoring points. Oli delivered an amazing drive to the podium – the second in the second race. He perfectly timed his final push, overtaking two cars in the very last corner with a great maneuver. Sacha had a more difficult race but managed to make up some positions and was unlucky to finish outside the points. The race also marked the first victory for the Nissan e-4ORCE 04 powertrain through the NEOM McLaren Formula E Team, ensuring a double podium finish for Nissan as a manufacturer. We have worked hard to make progress."
António Félix da Costa rounded off the Porsche result for the TAG Heuer Porsche Formula E Team by securing sixth place. Unfortunately for the Brazilian local hero Lucas di Grassi on Abt Cupra: after being in the points for a long time, he had to settle for 13th place in the end. Nick Cassidy also had bad luck this time: due to his accident, he couldn't score any points. Wehrlein now finds himself in second place with 53 points, just three points behind. Evans follows in third place with 39 points in the drivers' championship. In the teams' standings, Jaguar TCS Racing leads ahead of TAG Heuer Porsche with 96 to 61 points. Thus, the powertrain favorites continue to lead, but in this race, especially Nissan has caught up, and McLaren finally clinched a win with a monoposto after a long time.
The ABB FIA Formula E World Championship will next visit Japan: on March 30, 2024, the very first Tokyo E-Prix will take place, marking the home race in the all-electric series for Nissan (and, in terms of powertrain, a bit for McLaren as well).
What does this mean?
Formula E remains exciting, as here only powertrains, drivers, and energy management (and thus strategy) determine the outcome. And unlike Formula 1, the results show that colorful variety is indeed possible.
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