NEOM McLaren team principal Ian James feels Sam Bird has had an immediate positive impact on the team following his move from Jaguar ahead of the current ABB Formula E season.
Bird is among the most experienced drivers in the history of the all-electric series, having missed only two races since the category began, and that experience has helped the team adjust to the different nuances of racing in Formula E’s third generation of car compared to the previous one, when — in its previous guise as Mercedes’ factory outfit — McLaren claimed two championships.
“Sam’s been incredibly open — [his experience] is part of the reason why we were so keen to bring him onboard into the team as well,” said James. “We transitioned across last year as we started Season 9 – we had Rene (Rast) at the time, who brought experience to the team but had been out of Formula E for a little while, and I think one of the things that we observed was that we’ve had a shift in the way that we need to approach the race from Gen2 to Gen3. This is something that Sam had grasped and got on top of. So very quickly as he came into the team he was able to really communicate that with the engineers.”
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James feels Bird’s knowledge has also helped McLaren’s second-year driver Jake Hughes.
“I think Jake’s benefited from that experience,” James added. “This is something that we always look for in the drivers — you can have drivers that will turn up on the day and be blisteringly quick and incredibly talented, but don’t necessarily become part of the team and work together with the team. I think with both Jake and Sam, they’re both the exact opposite. They’re both very much part of the team and have that passion for moving all of the operation forward.”
Three races into the season, the change is paying dividends as McLaren’s has maintained the strength in single-lap pace it showed last year while its overall race management has also shown signs of improvement.
“If I take a look at our single-lap pace, that’s always been reasonably consistent and consistently strong throughout Season 9,” said James. “We saw that again in Mexico to a certain extent, but actually the race management I think has been, as a result of the input that Sam’s had into the team … we’re already seeing that benefit.
“That collaboration between Jake and Sam and how they integrate with the team as well is going to be absolutely crucial to our success.”