Sam Bird secured a stunning race win in Sao Paulo after a last-lap move on Mitch Evans to secure Mclaren’s first-ever victory in Brazil.
Bird led the majority of the race after taking his Attack Mode early in the race. Two safety car periods help the Brit stay at the front of the field.
The safety cars also brought the usable energy targets down and the peloton style of racing that was seen in the first half of the race dissipated, and from then on there was a flat-out race to the end.
Nick Cassidy fell victim to the peloton style of racing as he damaged his front wing after contact with Edoardo Mortara at the turn 4 chicane. The front wing would later fail and drop underneath the front wheels, sending the Kiwi into the wall with a impact which ripped off his right rear wheel and led to the second safety car, after it was brought out earlier to remove debris from multiple incidents at turn 3.
Bird went into the last lap behind Evans. He failed to get the move done at Turn 4 but tried again at Turn 7 and went around the outside of Turn 9 and completed the move at Turn 10.
Evans looked like he had the raced sown up going into the final lap. Bird was struggling with cooling and with the race being flat-out, the Jaguar driver looked very calm in defending, but the Kiwi was struggling with de-rates which affected his pace on the final lap.
The 29-year-old overtook Bird at Turn 5 with eight laps to go, as the Jaguar driver had 2% more usable energy than Bird out in front. But as the drivers entered the final stages of the race, their energy levels had equalised, allowing Bird to execute his stunning move to secure victory.
Oliver Rowland came home in third after another impressive move on the final lap. The Nissan driver started the final lap in fifth place and ended it in third after completing a double-overtake on Pascal Wehrlein and Jake Dennis, who were having their own battle for third place.
The Nissan driver watched both Dennis and Wehrlein run wide at Turn 9 and positioned his car for a switchback at the final corner, which he executed to perfection and out-dragged both Dennis and Wehrlein to the finish line.
Wehrlein came home in fourth. The Porsche driver had a lot of usable energy at the beginning of the race but was unable to utilise it.
Jake Dennis came home in fifth. The reigning champion started the race in tenth and saved a lot of energy for the final stint of the race, but after making progress through the order came up against Wehrlein, and his stubbornness in defence during the closing stages whilst suffering de-rating issues ultimately cost him a chance of third.
The DS Penske cars faded in the race after starting from second and third. Jean-Eric Vergne came home in seventh and Stoffel Vandoorne finished the day in eighth. The team’s New Deputy Team Principal Phil Charles will be looking back at their strategy to see if they could have done anything differently.
Maximilian Guenther started the race in last place and had to take a ten-second stop and go penalty, and was still able to recover to finish the race in ninth place. The German driver was aided by both safety cars, but he still had to make the moves stick and grabbed two crucial points for Maserati.
Sebastien Buemi salvaged a point for Envision who had a difficult day with overheating in the blistering Brazilian sun.
Sacha Fenestraz came home in 11th in second Nissan ahead of Edoardo Mortara and Lucas Di Grassi.
Nyck De Vries was 14th for Mahindra. The season seven champion finished ahead of Jehan Daruvala and Sergio Sette Camara.
Dan Ticktum was 17th for ERT. He finished ahead of Norman Nato who picked up a five-second penalty for causing a collision with Di Grassi.
Robin Frijns was 19th for Envision and was the last runner across the line as Jake Hughes, Nico Mueller and Nick Cassidy all retired.
