After coming to blows with Techeetah's Andre Lotterer at the Paris ePrix, DS Virgin Racing's Sam Bird has branded the triple Le Mans winner as "too aggressive" and has admitted that he "needs to be told."
In Paris, Bird qualified in second place as Jean-Eric Vergne stormed to his fourth pole position of Season Four.
Throughout the race, Bird followed Vergne in second while Lotterer followed close behind, with the German driver overtaking Bird for what could have been the second step of the podium on lap 35 – a move that saw the pair make contact.
While Bird dropped back into the clutches of Lucas di Grassi, with the British driver dropping out of the podium positions in the closing stages of the race, Lotterer ran out of usable energy on the final lap, effectively becoming a mobile chicane.
After being overtaken by di Grassi and despite not having any power, Lotterer continued to drive on the racing line in a last attempt to salvage a podium, with this action resulting in eventual contact when Bird shunted the rear end of the Techeetah due to his high closing speed.
Although Bird destroyed the front-right of his DS Virgin machine, the driver stood on the final step of the podium, taking the chequered flag with three wheels attached to his car.
“JEV [Jean-Eric Vergne] drove a very smart race – I think there were times when he was trying to back me into Andre [Lotterer], but fair play he had his team-mate behind," said Bird after the race in Paris.
"If he could use him, I’m sure he would’ve liked to have used him to create a buffer as he is fighting me for the title currently.
"With regard to the last lap, we had discussed that you cannot move under braking, you cannot do a late swerve when people are obviously going to be overtaking – it’s not correct.
"I believe what we saw from [Andre] Lotterer is not correct. I had a bit of it in Punta, it’s too aggressive and he needs to be told,” he added.
Following his exploits in Paris, Lotterer has been handed a 10-place grid penalty for the Berlin ePrix.
After taking a pair of wins in Hong Kong and Rome, Bird sits in second place in the Drivers' Championship, 31 points adrift of Vergne as the Frenchman's nearest challenger.
Discussion about this post