The Briton claimed his first win in the all-electric championship for more than two years in the Sao Paulo E-Prix with a last-lap overtake for the lead, which also marked McLaren’s maiden victory in Formula E.
But ahead of the first Formula E race in Japan, Bird was quick to dismiss that he and McLaren would now be able to challenge for wins at every race going forward.
“Podiums at some point were expected and that was the goal, but wins for this season were not expected,” said Bird. “We’ve done that now and put that to bed, and we can move forwards and try and get some more.
“It’s not expected again, we’re not going into each race thinking we’ve got to win this one, we’ve got to win that one. There are probably only two or three teams in this paddock that can openly say that every weekend.”
Bird’s win last time out in Brazil was only his second points finish across four races in 2024 and places him sixth in the drivers’ standings, just 20 points behind championship leader Nick Cassidy.
Despite being in title contention at this early stage of the campaign, Bird believes there is “no silver bullet” when it comes to matching the performance of pacesetters Jaguar and Porsche.
“We’re doing some amazing work here at McLaren in conjunction with [powertrain supplier] Nissan to try and find little bits of speed where we can, but there’s no silver bullet, we can’t go and find a bucket full of efficiency and lob it into the race car,” added Bird.
“I think we’re working well and we’re extracting good performance out of the car at the right times and if we can continue to do that then there will be races and race weekends where we can fight.”
Sam Bird, NEOM McLaren Formula E Team, e-4ORCE 04
Photo by: Sam Bloxham / Motorsport Images
Team principal Ian James admitted that it was imperative not to become complacent, especially as this weekend’s event will be the first time any team will have raced on the track, located in Tokyo’s Big Sight area.
“It would be naïve to think that for any of us it’s going to be a walk in the park,” he said.
“We’re coming here to a new circuit, the conditions are very changeable. It’s going to be a challenge to get on top of the tyres and various other aspects; the circuit itself is going to be challenging as well.
“So in terms of confidence, I don’t feel any more confident just because we came off that great result in Sao Paulo. What it does do is it just gives us the reassurance that the ingredients we’ve got within the team have the potential to deliver some great results.”
