Round 6 of the Formula E Championship ended with António Félix Da Costa storming across the finish line and taking his second win of the season. The Madrid E-Prix was a tight fight for the victory, especially between the top three. In the end, Da Costa fought off his Jaguar teammate Mitch Evans and took the win.
At the post-race press conference, attended by Pit Debrief, Da Costa was delighted with the day. The winner joked that buying up all the paddock passes for his friends and family was worth it.
“Let’s put the emphasis on buying cause I did have to pay for all of that and it wasn’t cheap. Formula E didn’t do a very good deal for me, but it’s worth it now. The bonus will pay for that,” the Portuguese driver joked.
Difficult race with lots of defending for Da Costa
When asked to explain his race, Da Costa said:
“Firstly, I just wanna say that winning a Formula E race these days is something incredibly hard to do. Having two [wins] in a row is something I will never take these moments for granted. When Karun was talking to me on the radio after the race, I can’t even remember what was said, I was somewhere else. This place, this weekend was even a bit more special because it’s a bit of a home race. I had more than a hundred people here that drove to come and see me that know me and family, friends, whatever, so it’s almost like a dream day. These days don’t come very often. I was a little bit more emotional and happy than usual. So yeah, very happy with that.
“It was a very difficult race, a lot of strategy. I got involved in, well, De Vries made one of his usual moves and I lost out four or five places in Lap 5 or 6, and that really screwed up my plan a little bit. I had to invest a lot of energy to get back to where I wanted to be. Still, we did well with the strategy, the pit boost and the right moment I had free track to push and we took the lead.
“We undercut everybody, took the lead there and then to be honest I thought I had enough energy to lead to the end, which we did but it was a lot harder than what I thought. I mean, I had to defend, seriously defend from these guys [Mitch Evans and Pascal Wehrlein]. The guy in P2 kept changing as well, so it’s always a different guy and I don’t know, it’s just a lot going on with a lot on the line and I’m just glad that I could bring it home.”
Battle between Evans and Da Costa at the Madrid E-Prix
As Da Costa stated, the battle was hard-fought among the top three. Not only did the runner-up keep changing, but it was also a hard battle between the Jaguar teammates. The last laps action had Dan Ticktum and Evans fighting each other before Evans made his way past the Cupra Kiro driver to take P2. Then the battle between the Jaguars had a feisty Evans on the back foot as he could not get past Da Costa. The Madrid E-Prix ended with Da Costa taking his second victory in a row for Jaguar.
When asked how surprised he was to find his teammate behind him, considering the Kiwi began P16, Da Costa said:
“I was just telling Mitch, I was like no one preempted me on the radio that he was one of the guys I was gonna have to fight. When I looked in my mirrors and I saw him, I had to look twice, ‘was that really him’. So it must have been an incredible race from him. I want to go back and watch that and learn from it, but it just shows there are two ways of doing well in these races.
“Extreme amounts of saving in the beginning and then going flat out and coming through the field or if you do it just the right way at the front it’s also possible and today we got it right with both cars. Any of us could have won this race today, so, happy for the team. We came from a rough start of the season with both of us scoring no points in the first few races and we properly turned it around.”
Jaguar’s turnaround in Season 12 of Formula E
Jaguar started the season on a rough note with both drivers failing to secure points in the first two races. After the rough patch, a brighter path appeared. Miami was Evans’ for the taking, while Race 2 in Jeddah was Da Costa’s. With both drivers already having won a race this season, Madrid would be the second victory for either of them. After the eventful race, Da Costa ended up on top.
Asked about the turnaround from the start of the season to now, the winner said:
“Yeah, that’s the thing. I think everybody appreciates the wins a lot. We will have very, very bad days until the end of the year, I can guarantee you. So, we need to enjoy these ones. When the points are there to be taken, we need to take them. Happy that we could do that today.”
He continued to be asked about the celebration back in Portugal, where Da Costa said:
“Only tomorrow. The convoy is somewhere in the centre of Madrid today”
With his great win in Madrid, the call for celebration is understood. Da Costa was delighted after the weekend’s events. The win puts him fourth in the Drivers’ Standings, only one point behind his teammate. The next Formula E event is not until May in Berlin. Undoubtedly, both teammates will hope luck is on their side for it.
