For much of Sunday’s second race, he appeared on course for a
podium before a delay in launching after the pit stop resulted in
him dropping down the field. He finished the race in twelfth place.
Kamui Kobayashi (JPN) won the FanBoost vote in both races on his
Formula E debut, and came home 15th and 18th.
The Saturday race
Félix da Costa kicked off Season 4 with a strong race and finished
sixth to score the first eight points of the season for the MSAD
Andretti Formula E team. He started from eighth place and stayed clear
of trouble on an eventful opening lap. Several cars behind him were
involved in a collision, which caused the race to be suspended.
Following the re-start behind the Qualcomm BMW i8 Safety Car, Félix da
Costa kept one eye on his energy reserves in the first half of the
race. As such, he was one of the last drivers to come into the pits,
and led the race at that point. In the second half of the race, Félix
da Costa stayed in touch with the front-runners and was able to gain a
place. He crossed the finish line in seventh place, but was
subsequently promoted one position due to a penalty given to Maro
Engel (GER). Kobayashi ended the first Formula E race of his career in
15th. Victory went to Sam Bird (GBR).
The Sunday race
A problem with the starting lights meant that race two of the weekend
was started behind the Qualcomm BMW i8 Safety Car. Félix da Costa
benefitted from a spin by leader Felix Rosenqvist (SWE) to climb from
his sixth place starting position into fifth. A few laps later, he
pulled off a remarkable overtaking manoeuvre to move ahead of Alex
Lynn (GBR) and into fourth. When the BMW works driver came into the
pits, he was running fourth behind Mitch Evans (NZL) and had his
sights set on a podium finish. However, a delay in launching the
second car then cost Félix da Costa a lot of time and saw him drop out
of the points positions. He ended the race in twelfth. Kobayashi, who,
as in the opening race, had the FanBoost at his disposal, crossed the
finish line in 18th place. Daniel Abt (GER) won the second
race of the year.
The reactions
António Félix da Costa, MSAD Andretti Formula E:
“I am pleased to have scored points at the start of the season. That
was a good start on Saturday. We had a problem with the radio, and the
pit stop was not perfect either. We could have done even better than
sixth. On Sunday, it was a disappointing end to what was looking to be
a very, very promising race. We had a good qualifying and got
ourselves starting in P6. We managed to be very, very good on energy
saving – went a lap longer than everyone. We were going to have a
strong second stint, then we came in for the pit stop. We lost 20
seconds and finished the race 28 seconds behind the leader. We would
have been very, very close. I think at least P2 would have been ours
so it’s very disappointing to finish 12th. We’ll figure out
what happened and come back ready for Marrakesh.”
Kamui Kobayashi, MSAD Andretti Formula E: “I
really enjoyed my first experience of Formula E. We certainly did not
get the maximum out of the car in the two races, but I was happy to
finish on my debut. Thank you to all the fans whose votes allowed me
to use the FanBoost in both races.“
The BMW i Fleet
BMW i is once again “Official Vehicle Partner” of the FIA Formula E
Championship in Season 4. The BMW i8 (combined fuel consumption: 2.1
l/100 km; combined CO2 emissions: 49 g/km)* continues to take to the
track as a powerful and efficient safety car. The same goes for the
new BMW i3s (combined energy consumption: 14.3 kWh; combined CO2
emissions: 0 g/km)* as “medical car” and “race control car”, and the
BMW X5 xDrive40e (combined fuel consumption: 3.4 – 3.3 l/100 km;
combined CO2 emissions: 78 – 77 g/km)* in its role as “rescue car” and
“extrication car”.