Formula E

Da Costa: Pointless start to 2022 "more painful" than previous FE seasons

Antonio Felix da Costa feels that Formula E's new qualifying system means that his scoreless Diriyah E-Prix weekend "is more painful" compared to previous years.

Jake Boxall-Legge

Published: Feb 12, 2022, 12:54 PM

Copy link

Share on Viber

Add as a preferred source

Antonio Felix da Costa, DS Techeetah Media Pen

Da Costa endured a miserable opening weekend to the 2021-22 Formula E season, getting knocked out of the running in the first Diriyah race on the first lap and then dropping out of the points in the second to cap off a trying time in Saudi Arabia.

In previous FE seasons under the old qualifying system, the inconsistency of results allied to the advantage of running in the fourth group would have offered da Costa a bigger chance to catch up, but the more settled order of the new system means that this will be less of a factor.

Having dropped 33 points off of the lead of the championship already, da Costa felt that his DS Techeetah team struggled with pace in the opening bout of the season, but that there are encouraging signs for the season ahead.

"Scoring zero points this year is a lot worse than in the past," said da Costa.

"Because in the past, you'd be a little bit helped with the quali format if you do score no points. Now that's gone.

"So there's no advantage from scoring zero points. It is a little bit more painful and zero points in two races, for me, I think that's the first in a long time.

"Not the ideal start, but we do have a great team and it's a winning mentality team. So we know what to tackle to come back and swing strong."

Antonio Felix da Costa, DS Techeetah, DS E-Tense FE21

Photo by: Simon Galloway / Motorsport Images

Da Costa added that DS Techeetah had been able to work on getting to grips with the new qualifying format, having enacted a turnaround in fortunes over the weekend to get both cars into the second day's duels stages.

He also explained that losing mileage in the first race had set him back in his preparations for the second race, leaving him "rowing against a strong tide" in getting back up to speed.

"[There were] a few lessons learned, I have to say," da Costa explained.

"In Diriyah we had a shocking first day where actually the pace was horrible," da Costa explained, "like a good five-to-six tenths off the quicker guys, which in free practice was not the case, I could match or even beat them.

"It was a few lessons learned from day one, we then executed a good qualifying on day two going up to the duels. And I think that till the point that I got told to slow down [after missing his duels stage pit exit signal], we were pretty much up with Lucas [di Grassi] as well.

"So I think in one lap, we were actually not too bad. And then going into the second race, I always had 40 laps less than everyone else, because I didn't do the first race having been taken out on the first.

"I just felt like I was rowing against a very strong tide. And sometimes it's like this in life, I've been on the other end of things where I could do no wrong and just win after win after win. So I just have to push through, keep positive thoughts and keep working."

We want your opinion!

What would you like to see on Motorsport.com?

Take our 5 minute survey.

- The Motorsport.com Team

Read and post comments

Share Or Save This Story

Copy link

Share on Viber

Previous article Ticktum: Formula E contact with rivals "like a BTCC race"

Next article Bird hopes Jaguar pace gives him "enough" for good Mexico FE result

Top Comments

There are no comments at the moment. Would you like to write one?

View More & Comment

Latest news

Into the unknown: What to expect from WEC's Barcelona debut

WEC

WEC WEC

Barcelona

22 min

Into the unknown: What to expect from WEC's Barcelona debut

Josh Pierson earns IndyCar license approval following IMS road course evaluation test

IndyCar

Indy IndyCar 22 min

Josh Pierson earns IndyCar license approval following IMS road course evaluation test

Christian Horner opens up on Red Bull F1 exit: “Perhaps it was perceived I had too much influence over the team”

Formula 1

F1 Formula 1 47 min

Christian Horner opens up on Red Bull F1 exit: “Perhaps it was perceived I had too much influence over the team”

Jorge Martin: “I don’t feel I will struggle anymore” in MotoGP title run-in

MotoGP

MGP MotoGP

Indonesian GP

2 h

Jorge Martin: “I don’t feel I will struggle anymore” in MotoGP title run-in

Feature

Discover prime content

Why ‘Mr Formula E’ has called time on his racing career

Formula E

By James Newbold

Why ‘Mr Formula E’ has called time on his racing career

The team orders debacle that made for a controversial Formula E title decider

Formula E

London ePrix II

The team orders debacle that made for a controversial Formula E title decider

The 'incredible stories' that could be told in Formula E's London title decider

Formula E

London ePrix I

The 'incredible stories' that could be told in Formula E's London title decider

Cars, stars, and the shootout winners from the 2026 Goodwood Festival of Speed

General

By Maciej Hamera

Cars, stars, and the shootout winners from the 2026 Goodwood Festival of Speed

Subscribe and access Motorsport.com with your ad-blocker.

From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.

You have 2 options:

Become a subscriber.
Disable your adblocker.

Subscribe now Already subscribed? Sign in here

Already disabled your adblocker?
Reload page

Manage Alerts