Bird was running fourth when he lost control of his Jaguar in turn 6 and spun, bouncing off the barriers.
After staying on the racing line, Bird was hit first by Envision Racing’s Buemi and then suffered a second impact with the Maserati of Edoardo Mortara.
All three drivers were eliminated in the crash, which also involved Antonio Felix da Costa (Porsche), Lucas di Grassi (Mahindra) and Robin Frijns (Abt Cupra). Fortunately, however, everyone was unhurt, even if the carom required a long interruption to recover the cars and restore the track.
“There are a lot of bumps in this corner and too many raised manhole covers,” said Bird, who had initially led Saturday’s race, which was won by Jaguar team-mate Mitch Evans.
“I hit a manhole cover that was raised at the wrong angle and hit the wall. A scary accident. I’m glad everyone involved is safe.”
“They need to fix the drains and improve the smoothness of that stretch: it’s too fast to have manhole covers and bumps of that type, which can send you into a wall in an instant. For me it’s too much.” “You can go around it, and most some of the riders do it, but a small mistake is enough, which is not even a real mistake”.
“I don’t think they can change it before tomorrow, but certainly for next year they have to think about completely redoing that area, creating a smooth surface, because at the moment it’s too discontinuous”.
The same spot had already been affected by the crash by Andre Lotterer’s Andretti Autosport car during the race, which required the intervention of the safety car, while Jake Hughes of McLaren was forced out of the race after finishing against the wall at the same point in qualifying.
Andre Lotterer, Andretti Autosport, Sebastien Buemi, Envision Racing, take their helmets off after a crash
Photo by: Sam Bloxham / Motorsport Images
Buemi was angered by the incident, having singled out that stretch of track as a problem last year when Formula E was using the relatively slower Gen2 cars compared to the new Gen3s for 2023.
“It was only a matter of time in my opinion, and I raised the issue already last year,” said Buemi, who added that there was no radio message or yellow flag warning him of the incident.
“All it takes is a small driving mistake like Sam’s, and if you’re in the wrong place at the wrong time, you don’t stand a chance. These cars are very powerful and don’t have much grip, so when that happens it’s hard to avoid.”
Jake Dennis, who was driving the car following Bird when he lost control and managed to avoid the Jaguar’s spin, believes this corner should remain a challenge for the drivers.
“It just needs to be a little smoother. I think the corner is fantastic, it’s a fantastic corner to drive and it’s fun for us, but I don’t want to take away from that,” said Dennis, who lost the championship lead after finishing fourth.
“It just needs to be a little smoother, the problem is just a bump. In that section you go so fast that you can’t recover and you crash into the wall”.
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