'Too aggressive': British hope Sam Bird lashes out at rival Andre Lotterer after late collision dents championship hopes
The late collision cost Bird, who had eyes on another victory
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Your support makes all the difference.Britain’s Sam Bird has insisted enough is enough on driver conduct in the ABB FIA Formula E Championship after he was involved in a late collision at the Paris E-Prix and slipped away from leader Jean-Eric Vergne in the Driver Standings.
Parisian Vergne won his third E-Prix of the season on home soil to punch back against Bird’s victory in Rome to open a 31-point gap but attention turned to the driving of Techeetah’s Andre Lotterer after a late crash.
Lotterer had been battling Lucas di Grassi for second place but overusing his energy trying to defend against the Brazilian who afterwards also accused the German of swerving illegally to block his lines. Lotterer ran out of energy on the final corner and was forced to slow but appeared to attempt to block the rapidly approaching Bird who crashed into the back of him.
While Bird scrambled across the line in third place to keep his own title hopes flickering the 31-year-old accused Lotterer of being too aggressive and said it was time for stewards to step in.
He said: “I like Andre, he’s a very talented racing driver with a phenomenal history in the sport but something needs to happen. It needs to be consistent so if that kind of driving persists or other people do that the same penalty needs to apply all the time.
“We actually discussed in driver’s briefing this exact thing where you cannot move under braking. You cannot do a late swerve when people are obviously going to be overtaking you. It’s not correct in any form of motorsport.
“I believe what we saw today from [Lotterer] is not correct. I do have to go to the stewards to explain my side of the story however I believe that I’m not really in the wrong. It’s too much from Andre. I had a bit of it in Punta and it’s too aggressive and he needs to be told.”
Vergne, who was sporting a tri-colour rear spoiler in honour of racing in his home city, looked in the mood to put on a show for the home fans, as he set the fastest qualifying and Super Pole times and started on pole.
The Frenchman looked in control from the off and was on the end of only a token overtake attempt from Bird on lap 24 before they headed into the pit stop which Vergne completed a whole second quicker than the Brit.
Di Grassi had done a great job in conserving his energy through the first half of the race and came out of the pits in fifth position, up from seventh, but with 10% more usable energy than anyone in front of him and he soon made quick work of fourth-placed Maro Engel.
Lotterer has shown in his rookie season that he isn’t shy about overtakes and on lap 35 looked to have done his teammate at Techeetah a huge favour as he moved past Bird into second – getting a nudge from the DS Virgin Racing car for his trouble.
The Brit’s luck got even worse when Di Grassi, who was setting fastest laps every lap, also went past him moments later.
As Di Grassi poked and prodded Lotterer the German was using up energy fast trying to hold off the Brazilian but there was chaos to come moments after Vergne won at a canter.
On the last corner Lotterer ran out of energy allowing Di Grassi to fly past but Bird went hard into the back of the Techeetah car, destroying his DS Virgin Racing vehicle in the process although he managed to keep his third place.
Vergne takes a lead of 31 points to the next round in Berlin with just four races to go in this year’s Championship.
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