Formula E: Sam Bird penalized; Edoardo Mortara wins 2019 Hong Kong ePrix

Sam Bird has been penalized following the fifth race of the 2018-2019 Formula E season, the Hong Kong ePrix, handing Edoardo Mortara the victory.

Envision Virgin Racing’s Sam Bird appeared to become the first drive to win two races in the 2018-2019 Formula E season, as after winning the third race of the 13-race season, the Santiago ePrix, he won the Hong Kong ePrix this morning.

Bird won this 36-lap race around the 16-turn, 1.16-mile (1.860-kilometer) Hong Kong Central Harbourfront Circuit temporary street circuit on Central Harbourfront of Hong Kong Island, Hong Kong in his #2 Spark-Audi by 1.694 seconds over Venturi’s Edoardo Mortara in his #48 Spark-Venturi.

But following a post-race investigation, Bird has been stripped of his victory, as he has been issued a five-second time penalty.

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Bird was issued this five-second time penalty as a result of an incident between himself and DS Techeetah’s Andre Lotterer. Following the race’s final restart, the two drivers made contact with one another several times, and with under two seconds remaining on the race’s 45-minute timer, the right rear tire on Lotterer’s car went down as a result of it.

Lotterer ended up falling back to 14th place while Bird ended up taking the lead and going on to lead the race’s final two laps, initially securing a 1.694-second victory over Mortara in second.

As a result of this five-second time penalty, Bird has officially been scored in sixth place. Meanwhile, Mortara, who started the race in sixth place, is the race winner, making him the fifth different driver to win a race through the season’s first five races. This victory is the first of his Formula E career.

Audi Sport ABT Schaeffler’s Lucas di Grassi was promoted from third to second place as a result of this penalty. He finished 0.988 seconds behind Mortara in his #11 Spark-Audi.

Envision Virgin Racing’s Robin Frijns, Audi Sport ABT Schaeffler’s Daniel Abt and Venturi’s Felipe Massa rounded out the top five by finishing in third, fourth and fifth place in their #4 Spark-Audi, #66 Spark-Audi and #19 Spark-Venturi after originally being scored in fourth, fifth and sixth, respectively.

Here are the official full race results of the 2019 Hong Kong ePrix at Hong Kong Central Harbourfront Circuit.

Race Results
1st – Edoardo Mortara
2nd – Lucas di Grassi
3rd – Robin Frijns
4th – Daniel Abt
5th – Felipe Massa
6th – Sam Bird
7th – Mitch Evans
8th – Gary Paffett
9th – Oliver Turvey
10th – Antonio Felix da Costa
11th – Jose Maria Lopez
12th – Tom Dillmann
13th – Jean-Eric Vergne
14th – Andre Lotterer
15th – Oliver Rowland
16th – Stoffel Vandoorne
17th – Sebastien Buemi
18th – Alexander Sims
19th – Felipe Nasr
20th – Pascal Wehrlein
21st – Jerome d’Ambrosio
22nd – Nelson Piquet Jr.

The Sanya ePrix is the next race on the 2018-2019 Formula E schedule. This race, which is the sixth of 13 races on the schedule, it scheduled to take place on Saturday, March 23 at Sanya Street Circuit in Sanya, China. Be sure not to miss it.