Tag Heuer Porsche driver Antonio Felix da Costa has said his team suffered a “kick in the butt” at the Jeddah E-Prix, and has warned its rivals that they are catching-up quickly as Formula E enters a mid-season break.
The Portuguese suffered a tough weekend at the city’s inaugural E-Prix, finishing ninth in Race 1, and then retiring in Race 2 after an early collision with Maximilian Guenther.
Having entered the weekend first in the championship, da Costa now sits in third behind leader Oliver Rowland and Taylor Barnard, 29 points adrift of the Nissan driver.
The Nissan powertrain – which also powers Barnard’s NEOM McLaren team – looked strong over both races, proving the Japanese marque’s progress and the works team’s credentials as a title favourite.
After the race, in which he retired after a first-lap collision with Maximilian Guenther, da Costa told media including Motorsport Week that the weekend was one that showed the German giants must not rest on its laurels.
“I think the biggest takeaway from this weekend is that our competitors are waking up and getting close, so I think that’s also good for us,” he said.
“It’s a kick in the butt in the good sense of the expression, and we’re definitely going to work even harder, I’m not worried about that.”
Seemingly da Costa views Rowland as his – and the Porsche team’s – main championship challenger, the Brit having already equalled his Season 10 win tally, and said the break between Jeddah and the Miami E-Prix – scheduled for April 12 – will provide the team an ample opportunity to reset itself and work hard towards maintaining its reputation as the fastest overall package on the grid this season.
“We have some time between now and Miami, so I think that’s good for us, but as you’ve seen, the others are not sleeping either, so everybody’s going to improve, we just have to make sure we keep on improving as well.
“I’m sure we have a strong enough package to give Nissan and Oliver a run for their money.”
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