Saturday, 20 July 2024

Hear from NEOM McLaren Formula E Team drivers Jake Hughes, Sam Bird, and Team Principal Ian James after Round 15 in London.

Free Practice 2	1:10.965	P11
Qualifying	1:11.442	P12
Race		P8

"We’ve just finished the first of two races in London. We came away with P8, which, considering the first lap and getting stuck behind a stranded car in the wall, is a good achievement. I’m very happy with the work the team did, they delivered a good strategy, and we executed the plan well. 

“We stayed out of trouble and delivered some points. Hopefully, we can score some more tomorrow.” 

Free Practice 2	1:11.149	P18
Qualifying	1:13.888	P21
Race		DNF

“It was quite a disappointing day for me, in the end. The day started off quite promising in FP1, the car felt good. Unfortunately, I touched the wall in Qualifying. It was a very small touch but had a big consequence as I was unable to finish the session. 

“I started nearly at the back because of that but managed to make my way up into the points during the race, running in P10 at one point. However, it was quite a chaotic race, with some collisions and I ended up on the bad side of that today.  

“I unfortunately had a DNF and didn’t score any points, but Sam got some points for the team and we’ll make sure we have a better day tomorrow.” 

“With so much at stake for so many, we knew that today’s race was likely to throw a few curveballs into the mix. To that end, it delivered and – unfortunately – both Sam and Jake were caught up in separate incidents which impacted their respective races. 

“Although we can’t be satisfied with the handful of points we collected today, Sam’s race was well managed. After the initial incident, which was unavoidable, he kept things clean to bring the car home in one piece. Jake wasn’t so fortunate and the damage sustained meant an early retirement.  

“We knew coming into this event that qualifying performance was going to be key. As such, we need to do better tomorrow in order to put ourselves at the front from the start and manage the race from there. The Championship itself is still wide open, so we can expect further chaos – which we need to steer well clear of. Our intention is to finish this season on a high.” 

Championship Standings

NEOM McLaren Formula E Team: P7 (99 points)  

Sam Bird: P11 (48 points)

Jake Hughes: P13 (46 points) 

Taylor Barnard: P22 (5 points)