António Félix da Costa admits late mistake ‘cost us a podium finish’

António Félix da Costa‘s excellent run of form continued on Saturday at the inaugural São Paulo E-Prix; however, a costly error late on in the race saw the Portuguese driver’s hopes of a third consecutive podium go up in smoke.

The TAG Heuer Porsche Formula E Team driver has been showing strong pace since Hyderabad, with the Season Six Champion having narrowly missed out on pole during the duels. Da Costa was narrowly beaten by reigning World Champion Stoffel Vandoorne, in what was a close final. Staggeringly, Da Costa was the only Porsche-powered driver to make it into the duels altogether, with Jake Dennis having been the next in fourteenth.

This fact further highlighted the exceptional job Da Costa did in qualifying, with it making him an early race favourite. He certainly showed exceptional pace and was always amongst the leading group, whilst he even led the race for brief moments. A third consecutive podium was looking all but certain for the Porsche driver, before a huge error saw his hopes of a rostrum disappear.

After locking-up at Turn One, Da Costa was forced to cut the opening chicane, resulting in him having to come to a complete stop before rejoining the circuit, as per the regulations. This resulted in him slipping from third from seventh, ending any chances of a podium or victory. He did recover to fourth in the final few laps, to at least salvage a third consecutive top five finish.

Reflecting on the race, Da Costa hails it as a “very positive” E-Prix but that his error “cost us a podium”, something which would’ve seen him make further ground on his team-mate in the championship.

“That was a very positive day with decent points for us. I was super happy with my qualifying. Considering where we’re coming from, that was a big step forward. It was definitely worth investing so much energy in qualifying. We had a good strategy in the race. Unfortunately, I made a mistake, I had to take a shortcut through the chicane and lost a few positions as a result. Ultimately, that cost us a podium finish.”

“It was more or less about damage control” – Pascal Wehrlein

Credit: TAG Heuer Porsche Formula E Team

On the other side of the Porsche garage, championship leader Pascal Wehrlein recovered unbelievably well, after suffering a shocker in qualifying. The German could only manage fifteenth in qualifying but actually started the race from eighteenth, following a three-place grid penalty for the collision he caused in Cape Town.

Not for the first time this season, though, he powered his way through the field with some excellent overtaking moves, to elevate himself into the leading group. His race nearly came to a sudden end during his rapid progress following contact with title rival Dennis, who retired moments after hitting Wehrlein after he was hit at first by Dan Ticktum.

Loose pieces of carbon fibre flew around on the side of Wehrlein’s car; however, he didn’t let this stop him from recovering to seventh place. There is no doubt that he could’ve finished in the top five had he not made a mess of qualifying, but nevertheless he still extended his lead in the Drivers’ Championship to twenty-four points.

Wehrlein admits that after his bad qualifying, the race was simply “more or less about damage control”, with the German knowing himself that “more would have been possible” with a better qualifying.

“After a difficult qualifying session, it was more or less about damage control in the race. To move up from P18 to P7 and score important points is something we can be happy with. However, more would have been possible today. If we’d done better in qualifying, the race would’ve been easier too. At least we extended our lead in the drivers’ and team standings. We’re working hard to keep improving from race to race.”