The McLaren Formula E team has made an unplanned change: reserve driver Taylor Barnard has taken the place of Sam Bird, who suffered a hand injury during the first practice session at the Monaco circuit.
Bird locked the wheels in the Sainte Devote corner, the car flew into the safety zone, but the driver could not avoid a hard collision with the barriers. Footage recorded with his McLaren’s on-board camera showed the front right suspension breaking, but it later emerged that the driver had also injured his hand.
Sam was sent to hospital for further examination and the team announced that he would be replaced by Taylor Barnard, a 19-year-old Briton who is also competing in Formula 2 this year, albeit without much success so far.
This will be Taylor’s debut in the electric series, but he has experience driving an electric McLaren car: last October he took part in pre-season testing in Valencia and also worked in training for newcomers in Misano a few weeks ago .
At the end of the second workout, Barnard found himself on the last, 22nd line of the protocol, while his experienced partner, Jake Hughes, showed the 14th result. It must be assumed that the team deliberately instructed Taylor not to take risks in advance on the most difficult city circuit, so as not to crash the car before qualifying.
Source: F1 News

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