da Costa taking big-picture view of FE title hunt

Just before the halfway point of last season, Antonio Felix da Costa's campaign finally took a turn. After a tough start to the year that left him with just two points finishes, languishing in 11th in the championship, and his future at the TAG Heuer Porsche team in doubt, he won the sixth round of the season in Misano.

It ought to have given his season a much-needed shot in the arm, but the celebrations were short-lived after he was disqualified for an unapproved change to a throttle damper spring. The hero-to-zero moment looked to be a perfect metaphor for his entire season to-date, but it didn’t leave him on a downer.

He went on to secure four wins in a five-race spell towards the end of the season, propelling him into unlikely championship contention, banishing all the negativity from earlier in the campaign with it.

This time around, da Costa’s had a much more solid campaign. He's got three podiums already, and sits third in the points, having spent much of the season in second. And while he hasn’t won a race yet, not less gone on a streak like he eventually did last year, he’s looking at the bigger picture when it comes to championship ambitions.

“I sat down with myself at the end of last year and I went, ‘I think I've done a better season, or I've done a better season than when I won the championship, but still P6,” he said of his strong end to last season. ”You start to bring out the classification of every race for every driver, and I had double the DNFs of everybody else, so it's like, win or bust right?

“And I know that I've won this championship before, I finished third or fourth or fifth many, many other times, I've been in the hunt many, many other times, so I know how to do it. I just had to kind of re-baseline myself, and I think we've shown that.”

It's now been five years since da Costa won the championship. In the years since, his rally back to sixth last season has been his best finish, but he doesn’t for a second think he’s entirely passed his peak as a driver. In fact, the 33-year-old believes he’s grown in certain areas since he was the top of the Formula E tree.

“There's different peaks,” he insisted. “There's that bravery and natural talent peak, which definitely I have hit. Yes, I am not the bravest guy in the paddock anymore, but I am smarter than when I was when I had that peak of speed. 

“I'm still quick, I am smarter, so I think I am a more complete driver now than when I was, five or six years ago.”