Evans and Bird were running in eighth and ninth positions with just three laps to go in Indonesia when Bird misjudged his braking into Turn 1, hitting the back of the Kiwi’s car.
The contact between the Jaguars was gentle but it was enough to pitch Evans into a spin and into the barriers, putting him out of the race.
Bird survived the contact and looked set to salvage some points for Jaguar until a separate collision with McLaren’s Rene Rast dropped him to 21st and last among the classified finishers.
It marked the second time in 2023 that the two Jaguars have come to blows, with Bird having similarly crashed into Evans while they battled for victory in Hyderabad in February.
Speaking to Autosport after the incident, Evans admitted to some frustration on a day title rival Pascal Wehrlein bounced back from a difficult run of races to score his first win in over four months.
“I don't really want to comment too much on it,” he said.
“I was having a tough race anyway, I was struggling a lot with the pace. The car was very difficult to drive.
“It was an unfortunate accident. We have got a lot of work to do to have a good day tomorrow as a team. Obviously, the accident was unfortunate.
“Unfortunately, it’s the second time this year so it hurts. We missed a few points which is not good. The main thing is to try and make the cars fast for tomorrow.”
Source: Autosport