2025 Monaco E-Prix II - Race Report "Unfortunately none of it paid off for us"
Monaco Circuit, Sunday, 4 May
Hear from NEOM McLaren Formula E Team drivers Taylor Barnard and Sam Bird, and Team Principal Ian James after the second Monaco E-Prix.
| Free Practice 3 | 1m28.364s | 19th |
| Qualifying | 1m54.073s | 16th |
| Race | 16th |
“Both races in Monaco have now come to an end, and it is an unfortunate end to the weekend, to be honest. We were looking to be one of the fastest cars all weekend, and we got Pole Position yesterday to prove that. It was great to add at least some points to the tally with that Pole Position, but looking at today’s race, and knowing the pace of the car, this was not the result that anyone wanted.
“Looking ahead to Tokyo, we know we’ve got the pace, we just need to execute a better race to collect some points.”
| Free Practice 3 | 1m27.130s | 10th |
| Qualifying | 1m59.064s | 22nd |
| Race | 20th |
“The second race in Monaco has finished. It has been a very difficult day with a large crash in qualifying for me. The team did an incredible job, showing incredible teamwork as always, putting the car back together again, which made it possible for me to start from the pit lane. We went aggressive on our strategy, gambling for the track to dry up quickly throughout the race, but unfortunately none of it paid off for us today with the way that the track conditions stayed very damp throughout.
“I’m proud of my team for giving it a go. When you start last that’s all you can do. Now we move on and focus on Tokyo.”
"To say that the team feels utterly frustrated by today’s result would be somewhat of an understatement. We saw in FP3 that we had carried-over the strong pace that we had yesterday, and we were preparing to convert this to a solid result in qualifying. However, the rain changed the dynamic – in particular for Sam. Sam’s qualifying ended early after he crashed out in the group stages. The team did an incredible job getting Sam’s car ready in time for the race. With Taylor starting P16 on the grid and Sam from the pitlane, we needed to gamble on an aggressive strategy. That gamble did not pay off.
“We will, as always, work hard to understand if we could have done anything differently and learn for similar situations in the future. As much as the result hurts, there is still a significant number of races to go this season and we simply cannot allow ourselves to dwell on this weekend, but turn our focus to the next double-header in Tokyo."
