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Your support makes all the difference.Britain’s Sam Bird’s insists he’ll ‘live to fight another day’ but admits his Formula E Championship hopes look to be hanging by a thread after a seventh-placed finish at the Berlin E-Prix won by home favourite Daniel Abt.
The 31-year-old’s DS Virgin Racing car struggled for pace all day on the abrasive surface at the Berlin Tempelhof Airport starting with a disappointing qualifying which saw him start in 10th place – seven behind leader Jean-Eric Vergne.
Bird managed to gain three places during the race to finish seventh but it wasn’t enough as Vergne gained a further 10 points over his Championship rival to stretch the lead to 40 points with three races to go and 29 points available for each race.
And despite insisting he was not going to concede the title to the Frenchman, Bird felt the DS Virgin Car needed to make a big improvement before Zurich if they were going to keep in touch before New York City where Bird won twice last year.
“You look at the other vehicles and we’re probably got the sixth fastest car but we’ve got ourselves into a good position and we’ll keep trying,” he said. “I’ve got to try to get it to New York, we’re still hanging in there and anything is possible.
“He [Vergne] didn’t win it or come second so there is that but another 10 points up the road is difficult but this race was always going to be tough and it was always going to be tough trying to catch him. I’m not giving up but it is going to be tough.
“[Vergne’s] got to let up at some point – he can’t keep going like this.”
Bird’s work looks cut out considering his title rival has yet to finish lower than fifth in any race this season – remarkable consistency which has cemented his place at the top of the pack.
The Englishman has produced some stunning drives to make the podium five times in nine races including two wins but a 17th place in Mexico City and the seventh place here remain blots on his copybook.
The Berlin E-Prix was a dream event for the German fans in attendance as they watched countryman Abt win maximum points with pole, fastest lap and the E-Prix win and German manufacturer Audi secure a one-two thanks to Lucas di Grassi’s fourth second place in a row.
The fans were treated to seeing all four of the German drivers on the grid; Abt, Andre Lotterer, Nick Heidfeld and Maro Engel finish in the top-10 positions resulting in all gaining Championship points.
The race was the first of the season in which all drivers finished the race, but not without movement and some exciting overtakes in the order behind the two dominant Audis. During qualifying all 20 drivers were within one second of each other showing off the competitiveness of the Championship.
Dragon’s Jerome D’Ambrosio who found himself in third place after qualifying fourth found himself finishing in 19th which summed up parts of the race.
Vergne battled with former Formula E Champion Sebastien Buemi throughout the race and swapped positions regularly. At one point Bird had reeled in the Frenchman to just two places but couldn’t keep with him and could only finish in seventh place to leave his title hopes hanging by a thread.
Formula E will now head to Zurich in June 10 for the penultimate race weekend.
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