Early battles in the opening Jeddah Formula E race likely prevented Taylor Barnard from claiming victory, as the NEOM McLaren driver had to fight through the field before catching the leading pair.

Barnard managed to close the gap to leaders Maximilian Guenther and Oliver Rowland by the final lap, but earlier encounters with Nyck de Vries and Jake Hughes proved costly. A mistake allowed de Vries to pass on lap 10, with Hughes following shortly after.

"I over-consumed to try and catch him, and I had only 15 seconds of Attack Mode left, so I had one chance," Barnard explained. "When you're the third car trying to make a move, it's very difficult, especially at this track."

While Barnard was among the first to make his pit stop - contrasting with Rowland's late-stopping strategy - both drivers finished close together. Barnard noted that pitting behind Hughes' Maserati may have cost him the opportunity to jump ahead of Rowland's Nissan.

"It was part of the plan from the beginning," Barnard said regarding his early pit strategy. "We executed everything well, though I lost some time entering behind the Maserati. I still need to analyze the data properly."

Despite missing out on victory, Barnard remained positive about the team's performance and looked forward to the next race.

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