Kerbs would be a better solution, says da Costa

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Antonio Felix da Costa believes that the Ricardo Tormo Circuit could have done with the addition of kerbing to simulate chicanes, as opposed to the tyre barriers that have been the centre of attention during pre-season testing.

The false chicanes have come under fire from a number of drivers throughout the paddock, with DS Virgin Racing’s Sam Bird and Venturi’s James Rossiter already suffering crashes throughout testing.

Season two champion Sebastien Buemi has been the most vocal on the matter but da Costa, who so far has only driven on day one, is of the opinion that the chicanes are necessary to help replicate street racing on what it already an unrepresentative circuit for Formula E testing.

“I only drove yesterday with the one chicane, not today with the additional one,” said the MS&AD Andretti driver. “To be honest the first time I came round the chicane I thought that it was really tight and not safe, but I put it behind me and got on with it.

“It is what it is and what do they want? The track is already 0% representative for where we race and if they want the whole straight to be open and get to turn one at 230kph where we don’t have any corner in the championship not even a third of that speed, so for me that is the best solution.

“What I’m not happy about is we need a bit of a better effort from the people who put the test together and have the exact kerbs that we have on the racetrack; that would be a lot more representative.”

Speaking on the potential of the car, da Costa remained coy but hopeful that the team could make a step forward from a disappointing season three.

“We’re learning a lot every day and we have come from a long way back after our season three struggles. We’ve had some changes in the team and are going in the right direction with new peoples, new additions, BMW putting in more support and I think it will take a little bit of time but it’s promising.

“I won’t set any [targets]. We came from such a bad season, just to be in the points would be a good start.”

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Images courtesy of Rajan Jangda

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