Formula E star Antonio Felix da Costa has revealed his first impressions of the forthcoming Gen4 car, describing it as a “beast”.
The all-electric series will begin a new era in its 13th instalment next season, with a car that is projected to reach wildly impressive speeds.
With 600kW of power, the car has been touted as being able to lap Monaco at speeds similar to, potentially even faster than, a current Formula 2 car.
The series’ current manufacturers – Porsche, Jaguar, Nissan, Stellantis, Mahindra and Lola – are all currently putting the car through its paces in set testing days.
All the drivers that Motorsport Week have spoken to already about the car have all spoken with great enthusiasm and visual passion for the new machine, including Dan Ticktum.
Da Costa has added himself to that list, and revealed that the early stages of testing means the car is still yet to fully reach its potential.
“That is clearly what we needed, and you’re absolutely right when you say that,” he told Motorsport Week when asked about the collective excitement brewing up and down the grid.
“I’ve done two days in the car. There’s only been two official tests, three days each, and I did the first two days of the car in Spain. It’s still very early days.
“Most teams are not running the complete packages yet. The homologation limit day is still a little bit far away from us, so getting initial running was crucial, but the cars are not what they’re going to be yet in terms of technology.”
Gen4 era will be ‘awesome to watch’ and will help grow ‘hype’ of Formula E
Da Costa believes that the advancement of the car from the current and previous iterations of Formula E challengers will create an “awesome” spectacle, and will also increase the level of excitement for the series.
“The technological advances that we’re getting on differentials and four-wheel drive and all that, it’s a massive step forward from the current car. So it’s good to get some early running in the car,” the Jaguar driver said.
“I’ve got a feel for what a beast it will be in a good way, and I can only imagine 24 cars side by side of the Gen4. It’ll be something that’s going to be awesome to watch.
“But also, I think the most critical one, you know, Gen3 hasn’t been the most exciting race car that we’ve had in F1 for different reasons.
“Technology-wise, it’s amazing, but the whole package, it’s not what racing drivers are looking for, and I think finally we’ll see 24 drivers very excited about a race car again.
“And when you have that, the whole hype of the series will just grow with it.”
READ MORE – Porsche delivers ‘revolutionary’ verdict on Formula E Gen4 machine
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