NEOM McLaren’s Sam Bird has spoken to Motorsport Week ahead of the first practice session for this weekend’s FIA Formula E Sao Paulo E-Prix.
The Englishman is new to McLaren, having joined the team from Jaguar TCS Racing for Season 10. A third-place finisher and Fastest Lap scorer last year, Bird is very much aware of the challenges ahead at the Anhembi Sambadrome.
“I’m really looking forward to it,” said Bird.
“The track temperature is going to be extremely high, probably the highest we’ll see it all weekend, but it’s decent for the race tomorrow.
“The track will be very dusty, especially around turns seven, eight, nine and ten but hopefully that’ll clean-up and this track is always good fun so I’m excited to get out there.”
The high temperatures in general can always provide an additional challenge for drivers, but Bird feels confident of his own pre-race preparations for the race.
“I feel like I’m pretty prepared for high temperature races.
“I sometimes do some heat training – I have a little gym at home and I’ve put an industrial heater in there, crank it up to 28 or 29 degrees, get on the exercise bike and off I go for an hour and get a big sweat on.
“I do enjoy that, which is a bit sadistic, so I’ll be fine!”
The Championship is returning after six week break after the cancellation of the Hyderabad E-Prix, and like all the other drivers Motorsport Week has spoken to, Bird has found plenty of activities to take-up his time.
“I’ve been training, had a holiday in Dubai and played a lot of golf! I did a lot of walking with my dogs; spent quite a bit of time with family and friends; we did some simulator work as well, and I went up to Bicester to see the guys from the team, so bits and bobs!”
It’s been an encouraging start for McLaren so far, with Bird finishing fourth in the first of the Diriyah double-header, and team-mate Jake Hughes finishing a strong seventh in Mexico as well as fourth in the second Diriyah race. Is Bird confident of more competitive results in 2024?
“Of course – it’s my aim and goal every weekend but it’s very challenging and difficult to do that on a regular basis in this Championship.
“I’d love to bring home McLaren’s first podium [of Season 10] of course and we are moving in the right direction.
“Regardless of what happens this weekend, I feel very strongly that we are making progress and that gives me a lot of hope that it’s not a case of if, but when we get our first podium as a team, whether it’s me or Jake, it doesn’t matter, but it’ll be great to get that across the line.”
Nick Cassidy, title-leader and the man who replaced Bird at Jaguar, praised Bird’s and McLaren’s pace in Diriyah, and Bird was pleased to hear the Kiwi’s words, which referred to the team as “super-strong”.
“It’s very nice to get a compliment from Nick, as he’s doing such an amazing job at the moment.
“McLaren and everybody in the team deserves a bit of praise – we’ve made some inroads into Jaguar and Porsche and where they’re currently at.
“We’ve still got some work to be done to help bridge the gap, but these things don’t happen overnight.
“We’re in this for the long haul and we’re making slow and steady progress, so this is great.”
McLaren’s bright start will naturally raise expectations of more good results across the season, but Bird is realistic yet hopeful of what is to come.
“There are certainly tracks that suit us more than others – I think you’d be silly not to say Porsche, Andretti, Envision and Jaguar will be more than likely the top four teams, but if we can push one of them or finish close to some of them, I think we have had a very decent year.
“We came eighth in the Teams’ Championship last year, so if we got sixth this year, it’s a steady progress with the same car.”
Formula E has today announced a new Manufacturers’ Trophy, with McLaren part of the Nissan effort in this new competition within the season, but will Bird and his fellow drivers give it much thought during the race weekends?
“Honestly? No, not for us drivers – I’m here to race for McLaren.
“It’s very nice for the manufacturers, it gives them something to work towards, but if myself and Jake drive to the best of our ability and work to the best of our potential, and if Nissan do the same, then we can all hold our head up high and say we did the best we can for the Manufacturer Trophy, but it will be fought-out this year between Jaguar and Porsche – no question about it.
“But if we have a good winter with the GEN3.5, you never know in the future.”
After GEN3.5, the GEN4 era of Formula E will commence, and the early plans for the car and the plans for longer races is something that pleases Bird.
“I think the races being longer is very important.
“Right now, some of the races are very short with the track layouts, so if we can get the races to be 10, 15, 20 minutes longer, it’ll be great for the show.
“The cars will be faster again, different tyres as well so that’ll be exciting, so I and all the drivers I think are very excited about GEN4, GEN3.5 is a small step but GEN4 will be a big step.”
McLaren’s bright start will raise expectations of good results across the season, and Bird is realistic but hopeful of what is to come.
“There’s certainly tracks that suit us more than others but I think you’d be silly not to say Porsche, Andretti, Envision and Jaguar will be more than likely the top four teams, but if we can push one of them or finish close to some of them, I think we have had a very decent year.
“We came eighth in the Teams’ Championship last year, so if we got sixth this year, it’s a steady progress with the same car.”
