Jean-Éric Vergne: “We are going to work very hard to come back stronger”

Jean-Éric Vergne ended the final race of the 2020-21 ABB FIA Formula E World Championship season outside of the points, with the eleventh-place finish meaning he ended the year tenth in the final standings.

The DS Techeetah driver went into the season finale at the Tempelhof Airport Street Circuit with an outside chance of taking his third Formula E Drivers’ title, but it was not to be for the Frenchman, who lost out on the final point to Tom Blomqvist on the final lap.

Vergne says the season has been full of ups and downs, but it will be important now for the team to go away during the off-season so they can come back fighting stronger for season eight, which begins in January in Saudi Arabia.

“That’s it for this season, it has been quite a ride this year, there have been a lot of good things and some areas to improve,” said Vergne, who helped DS Techeetah finish third in the Teams’ standings.  

“We finish third, but more importantly, we have a very strong team, who likes to win, and we are going to work very hard to come back stronger and fight back next season. This is our only objective now.”

“We should not be ashamed to lose a championship so closely-fought like this…” – António Félix da Costa

Team-mate António Félix da Costa went into the final race of the season with an even better chance of the title, sitting as he was in fifth place and within nine points of eventual champion Nyck de Vries.

However, a poor Qualifying for Sunday’s finale left him with a mountain to climb even to finish inside the points, but all his hard work was ended prematurely after contact with Audi Sport ABT Schaeffler driver Lucas di Grassi saw him hit the wall and retire.

Félix da Costa says there is nothing to be ashamed of coming so close to the title, and to come into the season finale with a shot should make everyone within the team proud.

“We should not be ashamed to lose a championship so closely-fought like this… We came into the last race with the team and the two drivers still in contention for the titles, we can be proud of that,” said Félix da Costa.

“It was a difficult weekend, we had a good first qualifying, but then, we simply had not the right pace. Congratulations to Mercedes and Nyck De Vries for their titles, and we will come back to give them a hard time next year!

“We have a great team and we are going to work hard in the off-season, I can’t wait to start again!” 

António Félix da Costa ended eighth in the standings in the 2020-21 season – Credit: Simon Galloway / LAT Images