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Season 8 was also tricky for the Brit, uncharacteristically. Bird's been around since day one, and hit the 100-race mark with race one in Diriyah and 2021/22 was the only season he'd failed to get his hands on Formula E silverware - putting that behind him no doubt felt a relief.
"It feels so good to be back on the podium," said the 36-year-old post-race. "I can't tell you. It's been a rough 12 months for me, but Jaguar have been amazing. They've stuck by me and they put their arms around me.
"Recently, we've had a very difficult Mexico to open the season and the amount of work and the amount of sleepless nights that everybody at the team has had in order to get us to this point. This is a mini victory for us.
"I knew the pace was there in Mexico, I just wasn’t able to execute it. I’ve left last year behind me and this is a new journey for us with the GEN3 car.
"I’ve been working hard on myself, too, to get myself in a better frame of mind this year and this is proof I can still do it."
Homework to do
It's a double-header so time for overnight homework, and diving into the data to dial things in for Round 3 with the aim of reeling in the Porsches. They look "extremely decent", says Bird, and the Jaguar squad will be playing a bit of catch-up for race two.
"We’ll sit down with all our teams tonight and discuss how to try and improve and learn because the Porsches look very, very good," adds Bird. "It’s not just the energy management or pace it’s their mechanical balance – the car looks extremely strong.
"I get that Porsche that are going to be taking the spoils home tonight but for us, from where we've come from, amazing congratulations to everybody in the team when we keep pushing. Just trying to replace my car to make it difficult for Pascal (Wehrlein). I know that the grip out there is tricky, but he did a superb job. The Porsches look extremely decent on change of direction and minimum speed. We've got a little bit of homework to do tonight."