1. Sam Jamie Bird was born on 9 January 1987 and is a British professional racing driver who is currently driving for NEOM McLaren in Formula E He won the LMP2 title at the 2015 FIA World Endurance Championship, and was runner-up at the 2013 GP2 Series and the LMGTE Pro class at the 2016 FIA World Endurance Championship.
Sam Bird made his name in single seater racing in the Formula BMW category, coming fourteenth overall in his debut season and second in the rookie cup.
Sam Bird came runner up in 2005, which was only his second season in the category and came fourth in the Formula BMW world final, the race itself was won by German Marco Holzer.
For 2006, Sam Bird entered the British Formula Renault series, where he won four races and came fourth in the championship, 111 points behind series champion Sebastian Hohenthal.
In 2007, Sam Bird raced in the British Formula 3 Championship with Carlin Motorsport, in a Mercedes powered Dallara.
In March 2007, Bird secured sponsorship from BP, "The brand is already prominent in the World Rally Championship" Mark Reader, BP's UK Fuels Marketing Manager, commented, "Sam's an incredible prospect and we're excited to be getting into a relationship at this stage of his career" he added.
Sam Bird only picked up points from three other races.
Sam Bird earned his first pole position and fastest laps, but failed to win a race en route to eighth in the championship.
Sam Bird missed the final round of the F3 Euroseries season to join up with the ART Grand Prix team for a GP2 Asia Series test at the Yas Marina Circuit in Abu Dhabi.
Sam Bird contested the 2010 GP2 Series with ART, having long coveted a drive with the French team.
Sam Bird was fast but frequently unlucky, losing several potential results due to technical issues, engine failures and collisions for which he was not at fault.
For 2011, Sam Bird moved to the iSport International team alongside Marcus Ericsson.
Sam Bird competed for the new Motopark-run Russian Time squad in 2013 and enjoyed a hugely successful season.
Between his last two seasons in the GP2 series, Sam Bird competed in the 2012 Formula Renault 3.5 season.
Sam Bird won two races and took five further podium positions to head into the final round at Catalunya in a three-way battle for the title with Robin Frijns and Jules Bianchi.
Sam Bird lost out on the title by just 10 points and ended up finishing third in the championship.
Sam Bird claimed third place in the first race, the Beijing ePrix, before dominating the second race of the season in Putrajaya to claim victory from second on the grid.
Sam Bird bounced back by scoring points in Buenos Aires and Miami.
However, the 2015 Long Beach ePrix was another race to forget for Sam Bird: after starting 11th, he suffered a suspension failure on lap 11 and retired from the race.
Sam Bird managed to avoid the massive first-lap collision at the 2015 Monaco ePrix and went from his qualifying position of 12th to finish fourth.
The final round of the season was the 2015 London ePrix where Sam Bird started from fourth and went on to cross the line second at his home ePrix.
Race winner Stephane Sarrazin received a 49-second penalty and so Sam Bird was handed the win making him the first-ever Formula E driver to win their home race.
Sam Bird finished the season with 103 points and secured 5th place in the championship.
At the first race of the season in Beijing, Sam Bird only managed to finish 7th.
Sam Bird eventually finished the season in 4th place with 88 points, after being overtaken by Nicolas Prost in the championship after he won the double-header in London.
Sam Bird started his season with a 13th place finish in Hong Kong after leading the race and losing more than a minute during the pit-stop sequence.
Sam Bird bounced back from that result by finishing second in the following round at Marrakesh, after which Bird stated that "being on the podium [was] like a victory".
At Monaco, Sam Bird damaged his car's suspension after hitting the barriers in the early stages of the race - he was still able to set the fastest lap in his second car.
At the season opener in Hong Kong, Sam Bird started from 2nd on the grid after having nearly spun his car at the hairpin on his flying lap.
Sam Bird was given a 10-place grid penalty for the incident and started the second race from thirteenth.
Sam Bird would go on to finish in 3rd place in the championship with 143 points, just 1 point off 2nd place finisher Lucas di Grassi.
Ultimately, Sam Bird finished the season in 9th place, amassing a total of 85 points over the season.
Sam Bird won the opening race of the season, the 2019 Diriyah ePrix, for Envision Virgin Racing.
In Santiago, Sam Bird stormed from 16th to 10th, achieving the fastest lap of the race.
The rest of the season was put on hold due to the COVID-19 pandemic, during which Sam Bird announced that he was leaving Virgin to join Jaguar Racing.
Sam Bird finished the first race in 3rd and the second race in 6th.
Sam Bird finished the next three races in 13th, 11th, and 20th after being caught in a pile-up on the first lap.
Sam Bird finished the season ranked 10th in the standings with 63 points.
Sam Bird had to miss both rounds of the Seoul ePrix after sustaining a broken hand during the London ePrix.
Sam Bird's place was taken by Jaguar reserve driver Norman Nato.
Sam Bird did have a rude awakening as software problems hampered his preparations in practice for the Mexico City ePrix and he only qualified 21st.
Sam Bird's race was not much better as it ended prematurely on lap 6 with a driveshaft failure.
Sam Bird consistently faltered as the season moved on and failed to secure a win for the second season.
Sam Bird finished 8th in the standings with 95 points.
Sam Bird left Jaguar after spending three seasons with the team at the end of the season.
Sam Bird got McLaren's maiden Formula E victory at the Sao Paulo ePrix.
At the Monaco ePrix, Sam Bird was ruled out of the weekend after suffering a hand injury following a crash during the first free practice.
Sam Bird was replaced by McLaren reserve and development driver Taylor Barnard.
In 2014, Sam Bird made two guest appearances for the Ferrari AF Corse team.
Sam Bird took pole position in the GTE Am class, 2nd overall of all GT cars.
Sam Bird ran in the first stint of the race, holding the GTE Am lead until he collided with a pair of front-running LMP1 cars in wet conditions on the Mulsanne Straight.
Sam Bird was educated at Charterhouse School until GCSE level, after which he attended Millfield School in Somerset.
Sam Bird is a keen football fan and an avid supporter of Manchester United FC.