Britain’s Sam Bird has put his “disappointing” run of form in this year’s Formula E Championship down to a combination of “bad luck” and lack of competitive edge.
The Envision Virign Racing driver is currently 11th in the standings ahead of Saturday’s race in Bern, with a total of 56 points to his name – 46 behind table leader Jean-Eric Vergne.
However, it was a different story three months ago. After a bright start to the series – notably clinching victory in Santiago – the 32-year-old stood top of the pack heading into Hong Kong.
There, Bird appeared to have extended his lead further but was stripped of the win due to a five-second penalty after hitting Andre Lotterer and ending the German’s race.
That preceded a sudden and dramatic decline in results, with the Briton picking up just two points in total from the last five races.
With just three races left of the Championship, Bird expressed his disappointment as he attempted to explain what was behind his loss in form.
“It’s been a massively disappointing run of the last three months, but hopefully that’ll change,” he said.
“There’s been bad luck, quite a bit of that. I’ve made a couple of mistakes and there’s been a few place where we weren’t as competitive as what we’d hoped. Most places we’ve been competitive but haven’t had the rub of the green.
“Paris I made a mistake in FP1 which hampered our entire weekend which was a big shame. And then Berlin we weren’t as quick as we’d hoped.”
Bird struck a bullish mood in the build-up to the Monaco Formula E – insisting that the Championship title was still “within reach” – but the Briton has since readjusted his expectations.
“The objective is just to get as many points as I can for Envision Virgin Racing,” he said. “That’s all I can hope to do at this stage. Nothing else is in the forefront of my mind.”
Reflecting upon his season as a whole, Bird added: “Lots of things to take away from the season, be it good, be it bad. Every race, every weekend there’s something new to learn.
“The strive to become a better driver is always there and I’ll continue to learn every single race.”
The Britain also sought to explain the unpredictability which has marked much of this year’s Championship, with a total of eight different drivers claiming victory in the series so far.
“I’d say it’s qualifying,” he said. “Most of the tracks, if you’re in group one, you will more than likely not make it to the super pole and that really makes the grid very crazy. That combined with quite a few incidents on first laps, causing red flags and a lot of DNFs [Did Not Finish] for people at strange times, means the grid is a bit all over the place.”
