BMW i Andretti Motorsport's Antonio Felix da Costa believes that his iFE.18 car was capable of winning last weekend's Sanya E-Prix, with the Portuguese racer feeling that greater rewards could have been reaped at the sixth race of the season.
In Sanya, da Costa took his third podium finish of the 2018/19 campaign, taking the chequered flag in third place to stand on the final step of the podium.
After starting from thrid on the grid, da Costa spent much of the race biding his time, with the field running in formation behind Nissan e.dams' Oliver Rowland who led the first half of the E-Prix after starting from pole position.
With reigning champion Jean-Eric Vergne following Rowland in second place for the first 24 minutes of running, an overtake from the Frenchman on the Briton for the lead of the race in Turn 11 kick-started the fight at the front of the field, with da Costa attacking Rowland as a result.
Looking up the inside of Turn 3, da Costa weighed up an overtake on Rowland before an eventual lunge into Turn 5 saw the pair come to blows, with the trailing Portuguese driver picking up damage on the nose of his car, settling for third place to secure 15 points.
"I'm happy with the points obviously, but I wanted to take a little bit more," said da Costa.
"Certainly after following these two guys [Vergne and Rowland] I thought we had the car to win but it’s not easy to overtake, you have to take a lot of risks especially if it’s someone like Oliver.
"I knew exactly what was going on in his mind, he wanted this podium a lot and he knew that I needed the points – so I took a little risk at some point but he defended late and I was already half-committed.
"It could’ve ended badly but luckily everything worked out. It is what it is. I’m happy with this, there’s still a long way to go, we’re only just halfway now and we need to make sure we’re there in July."
By taking third in Sanya, da Costa has regained the lead in the Drivers' Championship after previously topping the standings following his win in Ad Diriyah at the start of the season in December, with the driver holding a one point advantage over Jerome d'Ambrosio who sits in second.
The ABB FIA Formula E Championship's fifth season of competition will continue on April 13 in Rome.
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