In the fifth round of the ABB FIA Formula E Championship, António Félix da Costa (POR) yet again scored points for MS&AD Andretti Formula E. The Mexico City E-Prix at the “ Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez” in the centre of Mexico’s capital saw him cross the line in seventh. His team-mate Tom Blomqvist (GBR) had to make do with P15 in his maiden Formula E appearance in Mexico. MS&AD Andretti Formula E celebrated its fourth points finish in the fifth race of the season.
The qualifying
António Félix da Costa made the headlines in the qualifying session for the Mexico City E-Prix. To begin with, he set the third-fastest time – 1:01.772 minutes – in qualifying Group 3. No driver from Group 4 was able to beat the 26-year old’s time, thus he made it into Super Pole for first time since the race in Buenos Aires (ARG) in Season 2. In that top-five contest, Félix da Costa came second behind Mahindra’s Felix Rosenqvist (SWE), however, he was relegated to fourth after the session as his car was found to be underweight after the Super Pole. Tom Blomqvist recorded a lap time of 1:02.443 minutes in qualifying group one, meaning he had to start from 18th on the grid.
The race
At the start, Félix da Costa lost a position to eventual winner Daniel Abt (GER) and couldn’t quite match the pace of the front-runners in the first part of the race, however, he successfully defended his top-10 position. After the round of pit stops in the middle of the race, Félix da Costa was running in eighth. He gained another position when André Lotterer (GER) had to take a drive-through penalty. Blomqvist experienced a tough race but never gave up and tried to gain ground at the back of the field. He ultimately crossed the line in 15th.
The reactions
António Félix da Costa, MS&AD Andretti Formula E: “We take a lot of positives from today. The pace was really good all day. We made it into Super Pole and had a strong qualifying. Our performance in the race was a bit disappointing. We will look into this. However, we are making massive steps as a team. I’m looking forward to the coming races. We have the potential to score points every weekend and are definitely working in the right direction.”
Tom Blomqvist, MS&AD Andretti Formula E: “This was a challenging weekend, to say the least. Things just didn’t run smoothly for us today. We had some little issues in free practice, which set us back. You lose a bit of confidence and then have to go straight into the race. This wasn’t easy. The second stint was okay, but when you are coming from so far behind, it’s just very difficult. It was a learning weekend.”
Source : bmwblog