Bird takes wings in season opener as Mahindra Racing’s Heidfeld ends 3rd
HONG KONG: Sam Bird of V ir ginDS took the chequered flag after a dramatic season-opening Formula E race at the Hong Kong Harbourport Street Circuit on Saturday. Bird was slapped a drive-through penalty for failing to change his car inside the garage area. But the British driver came out of the penalty unscathed as he retained his position on top of the pack to win his sixth Formula E race.
Techeetah’sJean-EricVergne finished second and Mahindra Racing’ s Nick He id feldhadt os ettle for his eighth podium finish in Formula E with another thirdplace finish.
Mahindra Racing were left introspecting“what if” at the end of the race as a few things here and there could have seen them register their first-ever win in Formula E. But that did not happen. There were two hurdles ahead of Mahindra Racing’s top driver Heidfeld. The first was to get past V erg ne, who started from pole ahead of second-placed Bird and lost his lead following a quick move on the inside by the Virgin DS driver. But Vergne did not let himself be outfoxed a second time in one race and quickly shut out the corners every time Heidfeld got a peek.
In fact, there was contact between the cars at least twice and on both occasions, Vergne managed to defend his position taking advantage of the narrow streets leaving Heidfeld frustrated and fuming. “He changed direction twice and that is not allowed ,” an angry He id feld said. But the Mahindra Racing driver was a lot more composed when he made his way to the post-race media conference where he said he was looking forward to Sunday’s second round.