Welcome to Formula E: Sam Bird crashes into garage but still wins chaotic Hong Kong E-Prix
The DS Virgin Racing driver secures dramatic Central Harbourfront victory with race also restarted after red flag on first lap because of pile-up
Sam Bird’s brilliance behind the wheel ensured even a mistake was turned into a positive as the British DS Virgin Racing driver made the first leg of the HKT Hong Kong E-Prix all his own on Saturday.
There was a drive through penalty imposed after Bird had dumped his first car outside the garage – instead of in, as required – on his 22nd-lap change-around and it had threatened to take the race away from the 30-year-old.
Instead Bird made the penalty vanish into thin air. He went into the pits with a 10-second lead over pole-sitter Jean-Eric Vergne (Techeetah) and, despite thinking he would drop back to about position eight, he somehow came out still ahead.
From there Bird raced away to victory, with Vergne and Nick Heidfeld (Mahindra Racing) slugging it out for second and third.
“Stressful,” was Bird’s first reaction to the event.
