Formula E Valencia E-Prix I

Da Costa blasts FIA claims after controversial Valencia FE race

Antonio Felix da Costa says Formula E will be “the joke of the week” and has blasted FIA claims he could have changed the outcome of the Valencia E-Prix.

Matt Kew

Edited: Apr 25, 2021, 12:42 PM

Copy link

Share on Viber

Add as a preferred source

Antonio Felix Da Costa, DS Techeetah, DS E-Tense FE21, Nyck de Vries, Mercedes-Benz EQ, EQ Silver Arrow 02

The controversy boils down to a 15-second window at the restart following the final of five safety car periods, when da Costa crossed the line with enough time remaining to set up a two-lap sprint finish.

FIA director of Formula E Frederic Bertrand told media this was “clearly making life difficult” for other drivers when da Costa potentially had the “option” to slow to leave only a one-lap climax.

But teams have placed the blame with a 5kWh energy reduction made during the final safety car period and then having an insufficient number of laps remaining to recover the lost energy.

The teams have not placed any fault on da Costa.

Da Costa took to social media to absolutely refute the FIA’s justification for a controversial final-lap in which three of the nine classified cars slowed to “pit-limiter” speeds to make the finish.

A further five drivers were disqualified for exceeding energy limits.

Da Costa said: “I’m sorry, but I can’t accept this [from the FIA].

"If I go even slower under [the safety car], how many teams would have protested me at the end? And also, if I go slower, they would have reduced more energy.

“Today it was only on the hands of the FIA to save all of us from this.”

Read Also:

Da Costa also told Motorsport.com that Formula E will be “the joke of the week” given an anticipated increased audience tuned in to see the championship debut on a permanent track at the Circiuit Ricardo Tormo.

He said: “As a motorsport fan, today was a big day for Formula E because it’s the first permanent circuit race that we do.

"I’m sure we attracted some new eyes, some not-convinced people to watch us and to give them a closer look.

"That is not what Formula E is all about. It’s not the image we want to pass. We will be the joke of the week, I guess. It’s not a good day for us. I feel sorry for the fans.”

“As a driver, this one hurts a lot. There’s not much we could have done. Theoretically, I’m excluded, I’m out of the race because I used too much energy by 0.1.

“In the end, the team and everyone is hurt. Everyone is down. It’s painful. You cannot believe it. The engineers are down there and sad.”

Asked to recall the moments when his race engineer conveyed the news he was not going to be able to convert his long-held lead into a first victory of his title defence, da Costa told Motorsport.com: “I got a call for the energy reduction, but when they gave me the call I was like ‘are you sure?’

“It seems wrong that I’m not going to arrive. They said ‘Yeah’. That’s it.

“I’ve gone from being all good and I might win this race to I am not coming home tonight.”

We want your opinion!

What would you like to see on Motorsport.com?

Take our 5 minute survey.

- The Motorsport.com Team

Read and post comments

Share Or Save This Story

Copy link

Share on Viber

Previous article FIA: Valencia race shows "how difficult" it is to win in FE

Next article Buemi frustrated after first-lap collision with Lotterer

Top Comments

There are no comments at the moment. Would you like to write one?

View More & Comment

Latest news

Sebastien Bourdais hopes latest WEC success will remind teams of his value

WEC

WEC WEC

Monza

1 h

Sebastien Bourdais hopes latest WEC success will remind teams of his value

"It's horribly painful" - Williams drops 2026 car upgrades to benefit 2027

Formula 1

F1 Formula 1

Sao Paulo GP

2 h

"It's horribly painful" - Williams drops 2026 car upgrades to benefit 2027

The lowdown on this year’s FIA F3 title protagonists

FIA F3

The lowdown on this year’s FIA F3 title protagonists

Iker Lecuona felt significant differences between Ducati's GP25 and GP26

MotoGP

MGP MotoGP

Qatar GP

3 h

Iker Lecuona felt significant differences between Ducati's GP25 and GP26

Feature

Discover prime content

Why ‘Mr Formula E’ has called time on his racing career

Formula E

By James Newbold

Why ‘Mr Formula E’ has called time on his racing career

The team orders debacle that made for a controversial Formula E title decider

Formula E

London ePrix II

By Ed Hardy

The team orders debacle that made for a controversial Formula E title decider

The 'incredible stories' that could be told in Formula E's London title decider

Formula E

London ePrix I

By Ed Hardy

The 'incredible stories' that could be told in Formula E's London title decider

Cars, stars, and the shootout winners from the 2026 Goodwood Festival of Speed

General

By Maciej Hamera

Cars, stars, and the shootout winners from the 2026 Goodwood Festival of Speed

Subscribe and access Motorsport.com with your ad-blocker.

From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.

You have 2 options:

Become a subscriber.
Disable your adblocker.

Subscribe now Already subscribed? Sign in here

Already disabled your adblocker?
Reload page

Manage Alerts