Early battles cost Barnard potential Jeddah E-Prix victory

Early battles cost Barnard potential Jeddah E-Prix victory

By Michael Harrison

February 15, 2025 at 02:08 PM

Taylor Barnard's potential victory at the Jeddah E-Prix was compromised by early race battles, particularly with Nyck de Vries and Jake Hughes, before finishing behind Maximilian Guenther and Oliver Rowland.

image

image

The NEOM McLaren driver's aggressive strategy saw him close the gap to the leaders on the final lap, but earlier encounters forced him to over-consume energy while attempting to recover positions. A critical mistake letting de Vries through around lap 10, followed by Hughes, created additional challenges.

Despite being one of the first drivers to pit—contrasting with Rowland's late-stopping strategy—Barnard executed his team's planned strategy effectively. However, pitting behind Hughes' Maserati potentially cost him valuable time that could have helped him overtake Rowland's Nissan.

Barnard acknowledged the difficulty of making passing moves as the third-place driver, particularly on Jeddah's challenging circuit, but remained optimistic about his team's performance and prospects for the next race.

"With how close I was on the last couple of laps, for sure a win was possible, but Oli was defending very well," Barnard reflected, looking forward to applying these lessons in the next race.

Related Articles

Previous Articles