Written by Jacob Awcock, Edited by Gabriel Tsui
António Félix Da Costa was left disappointed and frustrated by the timing of the late safety cars in the Mexico City E-Prix despite his second place finish putting the Portuguese driver in the lead of the championship.
In a race he largely dominated, Da Costa was left to rue the unlucky timing of the first safety car and the strategic decision Porsche made, leading to him and teammate Pascal Wehrlein left helpless against a flying Oliver Rowland, who shot past in the closing stages to claim the win.
“I thought we had a 1-2 for the team today and then that safety car, I don’t know if (without it) Oliver would have been able to come back to the front but it ruined our party a little bit, and what we were doing up to that point,” said Da Costa, evidently frustrated with the timing of the safety car.
The Portuguese driver, who has one championship to his name, secured second place plus the fastest lap at the previous round in São Paulo, and has come tantalisingly close to victory, but has run out of laps both times round, finishing under a second behind the eventual winner in each race.
Yet, the strength of the Porsche powertrain is evident, and it appears to be a country mile ahead to all the other powertrains on the grid with its efficiency in managing its energy throughout the race.
As a result, Da Costa will be encouraged about the possibility of a second world championship, even at such an early stage in the season,
If he were to claim the championship come the end of the season, he would join an illustrious group of two-time world champions in Formula E, becoming only the second person to ever achieve it alongside former teammate Jean-Éric Vergne.
For the first time since season six, Da Costa stands on top of the championship and he claimed it was “amazing” to leave the South Americas with a strong championship lead.
“I’m happy with it, I told myself after last year that consistency is key if I want to have a crack at this championship and we are trying to do just that.
"Obviously, I wanted the win today but we have to be happy with those 18 points, I defended hard (but it wasn't enough)” Da Costa said.
Da Costa will be heading to Jeddah with the hope of extending his championship lead over second-placed Oliver Rowland.
With a commanding 12-point lead at such an early stage of the championship, he will be hopeful of using Porsche’s powertrain and energy-saving advantage to good use around the brand new circuit in Saudi Arabia.
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