The Briton sealed his 12th win in the all-electric championship with a last-lap pass on leader Mitch Evans in Brazil having led the 34-lap contest at several points.
The victory marks Bird’s first in nearly three years having last stood on the top step in New York in 2021 for Jaguar, before a barren spell that eventually ended with him leaving the Big Cat at the end of last season.
He therefore moved across to McLaren, with the race on Saturday was just the fourth in the new partnership, while the British manufacturer only joined Formula E last year.
“I think this one is one of the more special [wins] because of what I’ve had to go through to get back to this [winning press conference] chair,” said Bird.
“This one definitely feels very special, also the fact that it’s the first for McLaren.
“We had some goals at the beginning of the year about scoring some podiums and I would be lying to you by saying that I thought that we could definitely win a race this early.
“It would have been a dream, I didn’t imagine it but we’ve managed it. That doesn’t mean to say that we’ve made it and we need to rest, there’s still a lot of work to do but to score our first win feels really special.”
Evans took his first podium of the year in second having shown outright speed before suffering problems in the previous three races of 2023.
The Jaguar driver took the lead from his old team-mate six laps from the end of the race with a healthy amount of energy still to deploy.
But the searing temperatures in Brazil played havoc as cars throughout the field were affected by overheating, with Evans suffering de-rating on the final lap that “felt like I was in a Gen1 car”.
He added: “It’s bittersweet I would say. A few laps to go I thought it was going to be for us again [after winning in Brazil last year] but started getting some temperature warnings quite quickly and then it escalated on the last lap.
“I had a huge de-rate on the last lap with the power. I think even if Sam didn’t overtake me [where he did] he probably would have got me to the start/finish line.
“A bit frustrating, I had lots of energy left, I was just trying to bring it home but just two corners shy.”
