It has been a Formula E campaign of extreme highs and extreme lows for António Félix da Costa, one he concedes has been “difficult” to handle.
The Portuguese driver has made light work of his move to Jaguar from Porsche and has settled into the Big Cat with ease, cementing himself as a key figure to lead the team into Gen4.
Speed has not been an issue for the Season 6 champion, who boasts one of the strongest qualifying records this campaign, with eight duel appearances from the opening 10 rounds. Remarkably, he has yet to start a race outside the top 10.
Unfortunately, his struggles have come once the lights have gone out, largely due to factors completely outside of his control. Staggeringly, da Costa has been hit in six of the 10 completed races, significantly impacting his results this season.
In the São Paulo season-opener, da Costa was hit by Pepe Martí. He was then involved in a multi-car collision in Mexico City, spun by Felipe Drugovich in Miami, suffered a puncture in the second race in Berlin after contact with Nico Müller, endured a major crash in the opening Monaco race following an incident with Dan Ticktum, and was then spun by Edoardo Mortara in the second Monaco race.
Remarkably, despite being spun on the opening lap of the second race last time out at the Circuit de Monaco at the Nouvelle Chicane, he recovered to finish on the podium.
“I think I’ve said already, I just can’t believe what’s happening to me this year,” da Costa told ApexF1News in Monaco after his podium.
“I’m a big believer that these things are thrown at me — or at us — to build character, and I’ve been going through either very amazing emotions or very sad ones. The last couple of weeks have been tricky.
“[On Saturday], when that happened [with Dan Ticktum], I thought, ‘Why this again?’ But I really believe God has a plan for everything that is thrown at us.
“So yeah, I’m happy to have made the comeback stick, and I think it just shows that we should never, ever give up.”
Jaguar helping da Costa through difficult period
When things have stayed clean and da Costa has avoided trouble, he has claimed victories in Jeddah and Madrid.
Sitting sixth in the drivers’ standings on 80 points does not do the 34-year-old justice, as he would likely have at least 30 to 40 more points without all the drama.
In reality, he finds himself 48 points adrift of teammate Mitch Evans, who leads the standings, with seven races remaining.
Asked how challenging it is controlling his emotions when things have gone against him this season, da Costa replied: “Difficult. But I think I’m surrounded by amazing people, and, you know, it’s me and this team — we’re getting to know each other very well, and we’ll work well together moving forward.
“They’ll help me manage my emotions and my goals, and we’ll continue to work well together.”
