Subscribe

Sign up for free

  • Get quick access to your favorite articles

  • Manage alerts on breaking news and favorite drivers

  • Make your voice heard with article commenting.

Autosport Plus

Discover premium content
Subscribe

Da Costa says Amlin Aguri is faster than Formula E qualifying shows

Antonio Felix da Costa says the Formula E qualifying problems suffered by he and his Amlin Aguri team are shrouding the fact they are one of the strongest combinations on race pace

The Portuguese, who won the fourth race of the 2014/15 season in Buenos Aires in January has qualified on the back row of the grid for the previous two rounds in Berlin and Monaco.

But in the recent race at Berlin Tempelhof, he climbed to seventh and believed he was on target for a top-five finish before being hit with a drive-through penalty for not completing the minimum pitstop time.

"Maybe a second slower in the first two or three races would still put you in the top five, but now everything is a lot more competitive so you are at the back," da Costa told AUTOSPORT.

"We have proved our race pace, because we are one of the fastest cars out there and have very good energy consumption, so it's frustrating that I make my life very hard after every qualifying.

"We seem to have a struggle in qualifying to make our car work, to make the tyres ready for that last lap on full power.

"We don't have the grip, especially on the rear axle, although the front is not too bad.

"For some reason, there's something we're doing wrong either with my driving style on the warm-up lap or the tyre pressures or something with the car balance.

"Even if I was only qualifying in the top five or seven, it would be good enough to finish on the podium."

Da Costa is confident that the team has some avenues to explore at the next Formula E round on June 6 that could improve matters.

"We do have four or five things on the table that could solve this problem, but we don't have time until Moscow qualifying to really find out," said da Costa.

"Hopefully the team can look at the videos of the others and what they are doing on their preparation laps.

"We're also speaking with Michelin to see if they can help us with warm-up procedures so we can try and do better."

Since coming into Formula E after missing the first round because of DTM testing commitments, da Costa's average qualifying result has been 13th.

Be part of the Autosport community

Join the conversation
Previous article Berlin Formula E: Abt blames repairs for di Grassi exclusion
Next article Montreal set to host 2016/17 Formula E season opener

Top Comments

Sign up for free

  • Get quick access to your favorite articles

  • Manage alerts on breaking news and favorite drivers

  • Make your voice heard with article commenting.

Autosport Plus

Discover premium content
Subscribe