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The story behind the crowning of Formula E's "cuckoo"

After departing the BMW Andretti squad, Antonio Felix da Costa landed at DS Techeetah as team-mate to a double Formula E champion. It didn't take long for the Portuguese driver to knock Jean-Eric Vergne off his perch

When Jean-Eric Vergne rocked up for the 2019 edition of the Le Mans 24 Hours, he was on the brink of becoming Formula E's first double champion and guiding the DS Techeetah squad to its maiden teams' title. But there was a looming issue: Andre Lotterer, his electric team-mate of the past two seasons, was about to move to new arrival Porsche and leave a vacancy.

That led Vergne to sit down for a coffee in La Sarthe with his good friend Antonio Felix da Costa to court his services and tempt him away from BMW Andretti. The Portuguese had been associated with the German manufacturer since a 2014 debut in the DTM - his consolation prize from Helmut Marko for missing out on the Toro Rosso Formula 1 seat to GP3 champion Daniil Kvyat.

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