Complex sentence: Bird was immediately attacked by Richelmi but it became evident that the Russian Time car was suffering from a major problem and lost further positions before entering the pit lane for technical assistance that put him one lap behind the race leader.
Split into simpler sentences: Bird was immediately attacked by Richelmi but it became evident that Bird's car was suffering from a major problem. Bird lost further positions before entering the pit lane for technical assistance that put him one lap behind the race leader.