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How DS Techeetah acted on its warnings in Marrakech

DS Techeetah warned the Formula E grid numerous times already this season of its underlying ability to devastate. In Marrakech, Antonio Felix da Costa acted on those warnings to utterly dominate

Matt Kew Mar 2, 2020, 2:37 PM

The warning signs from DS Techeetah to the rest of the Formula E grid have been plentiful this season, not least thanks to the team's blistering race pace. But, amid multiple spurned laps in qualifying and its drivers tripping over one another on track, there's been a wait to see just how potent those black-and-gold cars truly are. Antonio Felix da Costa ended that delay in some style in Marrakech as he scored the third most dominant win in the championship's history.

He cut an unhappy figure after netting second place in Santiago. A subdued qualifying left him 10th on the grid and he was then delayed in the race by team-mate Jean-Eric Vergne, who was trying to shed damaged bodywork. More painfully, he was fed misinformation about car status over the radio while battling Maximilian Guenther for the spoils. Da Costa led onto the last lap but faced critical battery temperature issues. Only 0.1-degree away from his machine shutting down, he had to slow to a crawl and concede the win.

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Author Matt Kew

Matt Kew is Autosport’s F1 Editor, a role he has held since March 2022 following stints covering Formula E, Extreme E and the British Touring Car Championship.

Matt joined Autosport in 2018 to work predominantly on the magazine, but his relentless quoting of Alan Partridge meant office colleagues soon thought he would be better-suited to increased field work.

Needless to say, Matt had the last laugh when he won the Motorsport UK Young Journalist of the Year Award in 2019.

His interest in motorsport was sparked by regular trips to watch ASCAR crash around Rockingham’s banked oval.

Matt read politics and philosophy at the University of Sheffield - receiving first-class honours for his dissertation assessing the lack of female participation in top-tier motor racing.

He covered a wide variety of national race and rally meetings for Autosport as a freelancer before joining full-time. His best efforts to argue the merits of historic racing are undone by a questionable taste in music and James Bond actors.