Climbing up the order from fifth on the grid, Envision Virgin Racing driver Sam Bird flew to victory in the season six E-Prix opener in Diriyah, Saudi Arabia, on the north-western outskirts of the capital, Riyadh.
“I felt confident going into the race,” exclaimed Bird. “Envision Virgin Racing gave me an amazing car. I think some of it is down to the new beard!”
Not a newcomer to the podium, Bird described the previous season as being “difficult” while creating an opportunity for plenty of thinking and mental transformation leading to today’s victory.
“It’s a great start to the year, but the hard work doesn’t stop,” he added. “We have another race tomorrow. There’s potential in the car so we need to maximise what we can.”
TAG Heuer Porsche and Mercedes-Benz EQ drivers picked up second and third finishes, respectively in their first outings of the all-electric race series.
RACE RESULTS
Provisional* Classification
| 1 | Sam Bird | Envision Virgin Racing | 46:17.371s | (26) |
| 2 | Andre Lotterer | TAG Heuer Porsche | +1.319s | (18) |
| 3 | Stoffel Vandoorne | Mercedes-Benz EQ | +1.672s | (15) |
| 4 | Oliver Rowland | Nissan e.dams | +1.944s | (12) |
| 5 | Robin Frijns | Envision Virgin Racing | +3.983s | (10) |
| 6 | Nyck de Vries | Mercedes-Benz EQ | +4.560s | (8) |
| 7 | Edoardo Mortara | ROKiT Venturi Racing | +5.122s | (6) |
| 8 | Alexander Sims | BMW i Andretti Motorsport | +5.715s | (7) |
| 9 | Jerome D’Ambrosio | Mahindra Racing | +6.628s | (2) |
| 10 | Mitch Evans | Panasonic Jaguar Racing | +7.048s | (2) |
| 11 | Pascal Wehrlein | Mahindra Racing | +7.460s | |
| 12 | Felipe Massa | ROKiT Venturi Racing | +8.166s | |
| 13 | Lucas di Grassi | Audi Sport ABT Schaeffler | +8.404s | |
| 14 | Antonio Felix da Costa | DS TECHEETAH | +8.853s | |
| 15 | Oliver Turvey | NIO 333 | +10.172s | |
| 16 | James Calado | Panasonic Jaguar Racing | +11.572s | |
| 17 | Neel Jani | TAG Heuer Porsche | +15.429s | |
| 18 | Maximilian Guenther | BMW i Andretti Motorsport | +25.662s | |
| 19 | Brendon Hartley | GEOX DRAGON | +42.219s | |
| 20 | Ma Qing Hua | NIO 333 | 1 Lap | |
| DNF | Daniel Abt | Audi Sport ABT Schaeffler | 29 Laps | |
| DNF | Jean-Eric Vergne | DS TECHEETAH | 21 Laps | |
| DNF | Sebastien Buemi | Nissan e.dams | 3 Laps | |
| DNS | Nico Mueller | GEOX DRAGON |
*Provisional – pending FIA final classification
header photo courtesy of FIA Formula E
