da Costa aims for points amidst attrition prediction

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Antonio Felix da Costa expects the double-header Berlin ePrix to be a challenging event, not just for himself but also for the entire grid as the series faces its longest ever ePrix.

The Portuguese racer has endured a difficult season so far, with a fifth place finish in Hong Kong his only point scoring round.

da Costa admitted to not being confident that the Berlin track will suit his MS Amlin Andretti car, but will give it his all to achieve the best result possible.

“I wish I could say yes, but looking at the track layout it’s probably not the most favoured track for our powertrain,” said the 25-year-old. “We know our limitations and it’s a bit frustrating but having said that I come here with a completely open mind and when I see the car I have to believe that I can put it on pole and that’s how I drive.

“I drive to put it as forward as I can, I don’t throw in the towel before we’ve even started.”

With the race on Sunday due to be the longest ePrix in the history of the series, da Costa predicts that a number of drivers could encounter problems with energy management, but also believes the Tempelhof Airport could see a high number of overtakes.

“I think the race will be slow in general for everyone, because it’s very long and there will be a lot of energy saving but it’s going to be a very interesting race with a lot of overtaking possibilities and people running into trouble by not doing a proper job at saving energy.

“We’ll try to focus on our job and do it as well as we can, but until the last lap a lot of things can happen and you’ll see people running out of energy with half a lap to go, so we’ll do the best job we can to score points.”

da Costa also mentioned the work that goes into the simulator sessions, where he and team-mate Robin Frijns try to prepare for any eventuality that may occur in a Formula E race.

“Just as much as any new track we go to, just like Marrakesh or Hong Kong, it’s the same kind of effort that we do for those races and have to do exactly the same here. You start from scratch and when we go to the simulator me and Robin spend a couple of days there and try to prepare everything.

“We try to look at every scenario like safety cars, full course yellows or whatever, we try to create an awkward situation for us and also for the engineers to get used to adapting strategies. We train everyone, not just the drivers or setup or energy saving, we try and create all sorts of scenarios to make ourselves ready.”

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Image courtesy of Rajan Jangda

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