The Turn 19 event in between Buemi and Nato triggered a domino effect that warning the race.
The incident occurred at Turn 19 in the closing stages of the race. The collision between Sebastien Buemi and Norman Nato left Sam Bird with nowhere to go. The Jaguar driver made contact with the rear of Nato’s Nissan. He was then tagged by the DS Penske of Stoffel Vandoorne.
When asked by FormulaNerds to explain the event, Sam Bird said, “I got lifted up by Stoffel [Vandoorne]. Seb [Buemi] was blocking, but blocking beyond anything that I’ve ever seen before because he had to slow down by about nine seconds a lap, which is, like, dangerous.” He included:
“[It’s] dangerous for everybody behind. You’re going to cause a crash and that’s exactly what happened.”
The Jaguar driver said he felt that Sebastien Buemi need to receive a charge for the function he played in the event. “That’s my opinion,” said Bird. “It doesn’t matter, but that’s my opinion.” Bird specified that whether Buemi would receive a charge “depends on what they [the stewards] want to do.”
“I feel like the stewarding this year hasn’t necessarily always been identical,” continued Bird. “It’s what we strive for, they do their best, and most of the time they’re very good. But sometimes I feel like things are a bit strange. I don’t know how this one will go.”
Nissan driver Norman Nato received a five-second charge for his part in the event, dropping Nato below P4 to P9. Nissan has actually given that specified its intention to appeal the decision. Also objecting a choice made by the stewards is Porsche, after António Félix da Costa was handed a large three-minute charge.
In the middle of the Teams’ title battle
With Bird’s colleague Mitch Evans winning Saturday’s race, and Bird getting strong points in P4, Jaguar now discovers itself 2nd in the Teams’ standings. They sit a simple 2 points behind consumer-team Envision. When asked how the customer relationship with Envision may play into the title battle, Bird said it would make things “interesting”.
“It makes it interesting going forwards as well,” said Bird, describing the long-lasting outlook on the collaboration in between the 2 groups.
For now, the focus is on winning the Teams’ Championship in the 2nd half of the London E-Prix doubleheader. Bird specified that the group’s objective was to “try and beat Porsche and Envision, end of story”.
He continued, “We’ll give it everything we’ve got. It’ll be a super tight fight. There’s gonna be one team elated, two teams really disappointed,” said Bird. “It’s been a super close fight, and best of luck to everybody.”
Featured Image Credit: Channel 4 Sport Youtube Channel
