Sam Bird To Join Panasonic Jaguar Racing for Formula E Season

Formula E

Leading Formula E driver Sam Bird joins the British team from season seven and the new world championship era of Formula E

Briton Sam Bird is the only driver to have won a race in each Formula E season

Multiple race winner Sam Bird joins Mitch Evans in one of the strongest driver line-ups in Formula E

Season seven starts in Santiago, Chile on 16 January 2021

23 July 2020, Whitley, UK: Briton Sam Bird has today been announced as the new Panasonic Jaguar Racing driver joining the race-winning team for season seven of the ABB FIA Formula E World Championship.

The 33-year-old has competed in every Formula E race since the ground-breaking series started in 2014, securing nine wins to date. Bird, who started his successful racing career in 2002, went on to forge a successful record of results in the sport’s junior categories before a number of key Formula 1 roles including testing duties for Williams and reserve driver for Mercedes AMG Petronas from 2011 to 2013. In recent years Bird has tasted success in the FIA World Endurance Championship with Ferrari and the G-Drive Racing squad. 

In FIA Formula E, Bird is the only driver to have won a race in each season and has an impressive record of nine wins, 18 podiums, five poles and five fastest laps in 63 starts. The Poole based driver will get his first taste of the new Jaguar I-TYPE after the current season concludes next month in Berlin. His first race for the team will be on 16 January 2021 in Santiago, Chile.

James Barclay, Panasonic Jaguar Racing Team Director:

“On behalf of the entire Panasonic Jaguar Racing Formula E team and everyone at Jaguar we would like to welcome Sam to the family. Since the start of Formula E Sam has demonstrated that he is one of the very best drivers in the championship and we believe that together we will form a great partnership. With Mitch and Sam we believe that we have arguably one of the strongest driver line-ups on the grid. With extremely close competition it is clear that to be successful in Formula E you need two drivers who can be competing for podiums at every race. We now have two proven race winners that are capable of enabling us to challenge for both team and driver championship titles next season.”

Sam Bird:

“I am really looking forward to a new chapter in my Formula E career with Panasonic Jaguar Racing. I have watched Jaguar’s growth and progress in the series and am very proud to be driving for an iconic British brand with such a successful racing DNA and joining an incredible list of drivers that have raced for the brand. I am incredibly hungry for success and I believe that together with Mitch we can achieve great things for the team and ourselves. I want to thank Envision Virgin Racing for everything we have achieved together and wish them well for the future. After Berlin, I can’t wait to test the Jaguar I-TYPE and be in the best place possible for season seven and beyond.”

ABOUT PANASONIC JAGUAR RACING

Jaguar returned to racing in October 2016, becoming the first premium manufacturer to join the all-electric ABB FIA Formula E Championship street racing series. In 2019 the team won the Rome E-Prix – Jaguar’s first international motorsport victory since 1991.

Formula E is a real-world test bed for Jaguar to make fearless progress in the future of electrification.

As an official manufacturer team in Formula E, Panasonic Jaguar Racing designs its own powertrain, which includes the motor, transmission, inverter and rear suspension. To control costs the carbon fibre chassis and battery are common components and the same for all twelve teams. This allows the focus to be on developing electric vehicle powertrains which are efficient and lightweight which will improve the performance and range of future Jaguar Land Rover electric vehicles.

This is the second year teams will be racing with the futuristic Generation 2 racecars. Teams have two racecars, one per driver, which will be used for the full race distance.

Beyond its all-electric concept, Formula E is unique in the world of motorsport for its choice of venues. The championship takes place on temporary street circuits in the centre of the world’s major cities.

$215 b losses for UK banks, says Moody’s report

UK banks are less than half way through posting £240 billion ($398 billion) of losses on loans and securities, a reflection of the country’s economic weakness, according to Moody’s Investors Service.

British banks are likely to record losses of at least £130 billion, in addition to £110 billion lost since the beginning of the credit crisis in 2007, Moody’s said in a report on Monday.

The company expects the sustained weakness of the UK macroeconomic environment to feed through into higher loan arrears with ensuing pressure on profitability and capital, it said.

British taxpayers have provided about £1.4 trillion of support to banks, becoming the biggest shareholder of Royal Bank of Scotland Group and Lloyds Banking Group, while seeking to shore up capital eroded by writedowns. British banks have raised about £120 billion of capital from the beginning of the credit crisis to mid-2009, Moody’s said. “We have been underweight on the banks for some time”, said Dave Bradbury who helps manage $6 billion at Canada Life in London.

Agencies

Royal Bank of Scotland to axe 2,000 jobs, says report

Royal Bank of Scotland, which is majority-owned by the British government, is about to announce plans to cut 2,000 jobs after forecasting a record annual loss for 2008, BBC television reported on Tuesday.

A company spokesman contacted by reporters refused to comment on the report.

Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) was bailed out by the government earlier this year after running into trouble raising funds from shareholders because of the credit crunch and is now 68-percent owned by the state.

The report of job cuts came as the bank's former chief executive, Fred Goodwin, apologised Tuesday to lawmakers for failing to foresee the financial turmoil that led to RBS being rescued.

The bank says it expects a 2008 annual loss of up to 28 billion pounds (32 billion euros, 41 billion dollars) -- a record in British corporate history -- due to the crisis and a costly takeover of Dutch lender ABN Amro in 2007.

Agencies

Has British jobless rate hit decade high?

Britain's official unemployment rate hit the highest level for about 10 years on Wednesday, as experts warned more job cuts would come as the recession deepens.

Although the figures were not so bad as some experts had expected, falling short of the symbolic two million barrier, analysts warned that the figure could hit 3.5 million by the end of next year as the effects of the slowdown filter through.

Protests fuelled by the rising threat of unemployment -- underlined by almost daily job cut announcements -- have snowballed in recent weeks, including a new power plant walkout on Wednesday following wildcat strikes last week.

The percentage of Britons out of work jumped to 1.97 million or 6.3 percent in the three months to December, a rise of 0.2 percent, according to figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS).

"For every person who is made unemployed, there is a sadness and sorrow and we will do what we can to help people back to work as quickly as possible," Prime Minister Gordon Brown said after the figures came out.

His official spokesman told reporters: "Every job loss is obviously a matter of regret and disappointment."

Brown met 22 business leaders from some of Britain's biggest companies like supermarket chain Tesco and energy firm Centrica at his Downing Street office Wednesday to discuss getting more people into work.

But some observers warned the picture on unemployment looked set to get worse.

The general secretary of the TUC (Trades Union Congress) Brendan Barber said the situation was a "national emergency", adding: "This is another set of dreadful figures and we fear worse is still to come."

Vicky Redwood, an analyst from research consultancy Capital Economics, said the figures did not fully reflect the effects of a major contraction in the fourth quarter of 2008.

"We still think unemployment will reach 3.5 million by the end of 2010," she added.

Unemployment in Britain is lower than in some other European countries -- Germany, Europe's largest economy, has 8.3 percent unemployment and the figure in France stands at around eight percent.

But the global downturn looks set to hit Britain harder than its European neighbours -- the International Monetary Foundation (IMF) said last month that it would suffer worse than any other developed country.

Official figures last month confirmed that Britain was now in recession, while Brown last week used the word "depression" to describe the situation.

Education Secretary Ed Balls, Brown's former economic advisor and one of his closest allies, said this week Britain was facing the worst recession for 100 years.

New job cuts have hit the headlines almost daily in recent weeks -- carmakers like Bentley, Nissan and Jaguar have announced major cuts along with Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS), which is now majority state-owned.

Workers at London Underground were due to stage a demonstration Wednesday against what unions say are plans to cut up to 2,500 jobs on top of 1,000 already announced.

Meanwhile, hundreds of construction staff at the Staythorpe power station in central England walked out Wednesday after being told they faced disciplinary action if they joined a protest over the use of foreign contractors.

Last week, thousands of workers around Britain joined wildcat strikes on the issue.

Wednesday's unemployment figures were calculated using the International Labour Organisation (ILO) measure of unemployment.

Agencies

UK firms eye India to beat recession

India is top on the priority list of many British corporate houses as many companies having business in India have been able to survive the economic slowdown. Now over 500 UK firms want to expand in India.

"We are no more just talking about India, we are here in India," said Sharon Bamford, chief executive officer of UK-India Business Council. The council opened its office in Mumbai on Thursday.

"India is in a better position than most other nations to face recession," Bamford said."Our survey shows that over 500 UK firms want to expand in India.

" Three companies, incuding architectural firms Benoy, Sturgis and service office provider Avanta have already opened their offices in India this month. Nuclear power generating and ancillary firms from UK want to be part of the nuclear power opportunity in India.

Seventeen such companies, including Rolls Royce, have met Indian government officials.
Agencies

Agencies