Advertisement

Bird’s big weekend in the Big Apple as Formula E comes to New York

It’s been a long time coming but, at long last, New York has hosted a motorsport gathering – and Briton Sam Bird (pictured) dominated it with two wins.

Hard to believe though it is, in a country where so much is defined by the automobile, the Big Apple has, until now, never hosted motor racing.

But that all changed this weekend when Formula E arrived in Brooklyn, as the Red Hook Cruise Terminal was turned into a 1.2mile track which squeezed in ten turns and 10,000 fans for the New York ePrix.

It was another double-header, with racing on both Saturday and Sunday, and big crowds and celebs on both days. What did we take away from the weekend?

Big weekend for Bird

Briton Sam Bird battled to a brilliant win in the Saturday race, much to the joy of DS Virgin bigwig Richard Branson, who was on hand to share in the celebrations (pictured).

Bird, who qualified fourth on Saturday, failed twice to overtake German driver Daniel Abt on lap 14, before making a move stick two laps later.

Bird followed that up with a pole position for Sunday’s race and, while the Mahindra of Felix Rosenqvist took the lead at turn one, Bird looked comfortable, despite being stuck in a Mahindra sandwich, between Rosenqvist and Nick Heidfeld in third.

But on lap 11 Bird surged down the inside of Rosenqvist, locking up and snaking like a Sunday afternoon kart driver – a talented Sunday afternoon kart driver – as he squeezed by.

Then, it was a case of maintaining a reasonable gap and saving energy at the same time, Bird’s DS Virgin being a thirsty beast when it comes to power use – Sunday’s 49-lap race was six laps longer than Saturday’s, raising all sorts of questions about how teams would manage their energy levels to avoid running out of power as the race came to an end.

On lap 23, a full-course yellow triggered the pitstop phase, with Mahindra taking the plunge first.

Bird looked like he was staying out but made a very late stop. He kept the lead, with a power advantage, having stayed out a lap extra under the yellow flag.

That let him ease away when racing resumed, and so smooth was his driving it looked like he was pootling to pick up a Sunday newspaper and a coffee.

In the end, he had enough power in reserve to win by a comfortable 11.3seconds.

It was a job well done for the Brit, who started the weekend down in eighth in the Drivers’ Championship and ended in fourth.

Bird’s team-mate and Formula E debutant Alex Lynn took a sensational pole position in Saturday qualifying, but was forced to retire from the race later after problems with his car.

His Sunday was even more disappointing, as his car ground to a halt and was retired.

Buemi gets off with his no-show

Going into the weekend, the big talking point was the absence of championship leader Sébastien Buemi (pictured).

He is contracted to Toyota to drive in the World Endurance Championship – and Toyota get first dibs on him, much to the anger of his Renault e.dams Formula E team.

Buemi went into the weekend with a healthy 32-point lead over nearest rival Lucas di Grassi. But, with a maximum of 58 points on offer from the weekend, that lead was under serious threat.

However, at no point did it look like di Grassi was anywhere near grabbing those 58 points.

Buemi now heads to Montreal for the finale of this season with a ten-point lead – not something he would have bet money on once it became clear he was going to miss both of this weekend’s races.

Disappointment for di Grassi

Di Grassi’s hopes of overhauling Buemi’s championship lead took their first beating in Saturday qualifying, thanks to a yellow flag during his fast lap, after Maro Engel’s Venturi stopped on track.

As a result, he started tenth and battled hard to finish fourth and cut Buemi’s championship lead to 20 points, with Sunday’s race still to come.

Sunday qualifying was only marginally better, with di Grassi (pictured) starting ninth after clipping a wall.

However, he was in a racey mood again and was already up to fifth by lap 16.

But that was as good as it got for the ABT Schaeffler Audi Sport driver, and fifth was what he had to settle for.

After the weekend, di Grassi finds himself ten points adrift of the championship lead … but he will be hugely disappointed by a visit to New York plagued by all manner of problems for him and his team.

Gasly plays a blinder

The man chosen by Renault e.dams to sit in for Buemi, Pierre Gasly (pictured), had a hugely impressive weekend.

The reigning GP2 champion and Red Bull F1 protégé finished an impressive seventh on his debut on the Saturday, despite having qualified a lowly 19th after a mistake in qualifying.

Significantly, seventh was one place ahead of his experienced team-mate, Nico Prost. Not bad for a pilot whose day job is racing in the Japanese-based Super Formula series.

On Sunday, he drove superbly again and went into the final corner in third – but smacked into a Tecpro barrier, across the track into the opposite barrier, and took the chequered flag with a battered front end and a wheel hanging off the front of his chariot – having lost just one place and finishing fourth, albeit a little beaten up.

His team will overlook the bump, as he took points off championship hopeful di Grassi. And he beat Prost yet again.

Tight little corners on track, big names off it

The ten turns at Red Hook make for intimate racing. Plenty of bodywork was shed during the Saturday race, particularly at places like turn one and the turn-six hairpin, despite teams urging caution as the cars had to survive so they could race on Sunday as well.

Among those who crashed was Thor actor Chris Hemsworth, who played James Hunt in the F1 biopic. Sadly, he wasn’t racing in anger, but was adding a touch of glamour to the New York ePrix along with the likes of Leo DiCaprio, Catherine Zeta-Jones (pictured) and Michael Douglas.

The track has a fantastic backdrop, with Manhattan looming large just over the river. The surface, a mixture of old and new tar, got faster and faster over the weekend as more rubber was laid down.

Up next, Montreal in two weeks and another double-header with three drivers who could take the title.

It’s not over yet…