The Briton began in 10th for the inaugural Formula E race in Brazil due to serving a five-place grid charge for an accident with Jaguar team-mate Mitch Evans in Hyderabad.
A certifying mishap in Cape Town which led to him being not able to start the race implied he was not able to serve the charge there.
Bird made stable development in the early phases of the Sao Paulo race and delved into 3rd location with 5 laps staying, with simply the Jaguar-powered vehicles of Evans and Envision’s Nick Cassidy ahead.
Despite closing up considerably on the leading set and having more energy than either Evans or Cassidy, Bird was not able to discover a method through and confessed that his occurrence in India implied he watched out for making a relocation that would have led to an accident.
“I think we timed everything quite well, used energy at the beginning to get past people I felt like I needed to, that could be a bit of a sticky patch if I got stuck behind them,” he said.
“And then went with the lead group. These two [Evans and Cassidy] boxed super smart at the end and I had to as well, after what happened in India there was absolutely no point sticking my nose somewhere where it could have really affected team Jaguar’s points.”
Podium: Race winner Mitch Evans, Jaguar Racing, 2nd location Sam Bird, Jaguar Racing
Photo by: Andreas Beil
Bird specified that the nature of the Sao Paulo track, that included long straights not frequently utilized in Formula E circuit setups, enabled him to save energy in the slipstream of others which was the essential to his 2nd podium of the year.
“I can’t take any credit because it’s completely the nature of the circuit,” he said.
“It is a video game of chess, and I seemed like I played it rather well. I was down on energy at the start of the race however then simply settled in and utilized my tools properly and got that energy back.
“And when I needed to make a move forwards, I did. Unfortunately, the target was such at the end it would have been super risky to make a move and it just wasn’t worth it.”
