Round 5 at the Formula E Jeddah E-prix double-header weekend was marked by António Félix Da Costa’s first win for Jaguar TCS Racing.
Despite starting the race in P3, his route to victory was set early through a strong race strategy. Da Costa was the first of the lead group to take both of his mandatory 50kW ATTACK MODE boosts, which allowed him to build a 2.5-second gap.
This FE Jeddah E-Prix victory marks Jaguar TCS Racing’s second win of Season 12 as teammate Mitch Evans claimed P1 at the Miami E-Prix. With this, the British team currently sits second in the Teams’ Standings with Evans in P5 and Da Costa in P7 in the Drivers’ Standings.
Five races to victory pattern
Da Costa joined the ABB FIA Formula E World Championship in Season 1, and has since changed teams five times. The Portuguese driver has raced and won for Team Aguri, Andretti FE, DS Techeetah, TAG Heuer Porsche FE, and now Jaguar TCS Racing.
When asked about what it means to have won with five different Formula E teams, Da Costa shared, “Yeah, I mean, I don’t change teams because I want to. Sometimes, but you know, that’s just the way life has led me to go. But changing teams is hard, it’s very hard getting to know a new car, new people, everything.”
“And it took me five races to win a race with Jaguar. To be honest, in a way, I feel like we could have done it earlier, but to do it in just five races, that’s a big achievement. And when you join a team as victorious as Jaguar TCS Racing, and obviously me being a previous champion and an ambitious athlete, this is always the goal, right? This is where we set the bar. So very happy to do it.”
He further highlighted his recurring pattern of claiming his first win with each team after the first five rounds of the season.
“And apparently I just heard a stat that it took me five races to win with DS, five to win with Porsche, and five to win with Jag. So I don’t know if that’s a good thing or a bad thing, but yeah.”
Sticking with 13
The opening rounds of the 2025/26 FE season proved challenging for Da Costa. His results ranged from a season-opening P11, a Mexico City DNF, followed by a Miami P3 start that ended with a P8 finish, and a Jeddah Round 4 P5, to victory.
Notably, Da Costa races with the number 13, a figure often associated with bad luck. Therefore, given his habit of taking five races to secure his first win with a new team, he was asked whether a switch to number 5 might suit him better.
Da Costa, however, was quick to dismiss the idea as he said: “You know, after Miami, a lot of people said, man, you need to change that number. It’s bad luck. You keep getting hit from people. But I said, never, never. I’ll keep the 13. You know, and when I won the [2019/2020] championship, I didn’t run the number one, I ran the 13. So it’s my thing.”
Da Costa’s relationship with Evans
Da Costa’s Jeddah victory also helped Jaguar TCS Racing become the most successful team in Formula E with 24 wins. However, when reflecting on his still-short time with the team, Da Costa focused particularly on his relationship with teammate Mitch Evans.
“100%. And I mean, to have Mitch as a teammate, he’s been really good. He’s been really, really good. And we’re helping each other out. Today in the race, he let me go when I was on ATTACK MODE, and that was just awesome. We’re getting a really good dynamic together. And yeah, hopefully it keeps going. And hopefully the both of us can be there at the end.”
