Eight different winners across the first ten races is an impressive stat, and Antonio Felix da Costa is the latest to add his name to that list. The Season 6 Formula E champion was able to provide TAG Heuer Porsche their first victory on home soil thanks to some ambitious overtakes and amazing energy saving, in front of the passionate fans in Berlin.
Da Costa enters the record books as the first driver to win the Tempelhof Airport Street Circuit on three separate occasions, in a win that saw him climb from 10th on the grid.
RESULTS: The full SUN Minimeal Berlin E-Prix Round 10 classification
“It feels awesome,” the Portuguese pilot said after Round 10. “Racing for a German team and winning on German soil is amazing. We have a lot of important people here this weekend. A lot of employees, a lot of guests and board members here. So it feels good to be able to give this back to them.
“Berlin has been a good place for me in the past. It's also been cruel at times. Good memories here and happy to add this one.”
Da Costa not only won here back-to-back in Season 6, but also won his first and only Formula E championship here back in 2020.
The race itself was the usual Formula E madness, with strategy and gameplay being at the forefront of battles up and down the grid. The eventual race winner led early on through the initial batch of ATTACK MODE activations, with the Porsches running two-by-two and working together for much of the opening half of the encounter under pressure from the Jaguar TCS Racing duo of Round 9 winner Nick Cassidy and teammate Mitch Evans.
RACE REPORT: Da Costa seals home win for Porsche in Berlin
“The closing stages are actually the calmer ones,” he confessed. “It's the first 25 to 30 laps that are tricky. Awareness, I think it's the key word here, try and keep your car clean. Try and put it in the right place at the right time!
“Yesterday, we got it a little bit wrong. Today I was able to be a bit smarter on my decisions and be at the front when the time matters. Also, you know we do have an efficient car and I'm able to build up energy nicely.
“Obviously a lot of work goes into this, a lot of preparation, a lot of simulation work, a lot of creating scenarios in your head. You're racing so many talented drivers and teams. On top of all of that you're going six wide and trying to save energy.
“It is fun. It is very stressful. But it's fun.”
It’s a welcomed win for Da Costa, after having a previous victory in Misano disqualified. It was decided by the governing body, the FIA, that there was a part on his Porsche car that wasn't in conformity with one of three optional declared items.
For Da Costa’s teammate, Pascal Wehrlein, it was a great haul of points – 37– for the German giants at home in Germany.