Antonio Felix Da Costa can’t wait to get his hands on Ds Techeetah’s new car in Rome after he secured a podium in Diriyah on Saturday.
Ds Techeetah ran with their season six powertrain in Diriyah, and Da Costa was delighted that the team were still able to secure a podium with the old car.
“This was the last race with our old car, by the time we get to Rome we will have our new car, I cannot wait,” said Da Costa. “We now that we are going to make a step forward with the powertrain and the fact we could still fight for a podium gives me great hope that we can fight for the championship once again this year.”
Da Costa inherited the the final spot on the podium after his teammate Jean-Eric Vergne finished in third but was penalised for not using his final attack mode.
Vergne was upset to lose his his podium, but he understood why the race had to be stopped to ensure that Alex Lynn was ok, which meant Vergne was unable to take his second Attack Mode.
“Everything looked like it had come together today, but in the end I’m afraid to say that it didn’t,” said Vergne. “When there is a big crash like the one Alex had today the only thing that matters is that he is ok.
“Unfortunately, it meant that I couldn’t take my second attack mode, which is compulsory, which in effect gave me a post-race penalty and cost me my third position.
“It would have been a really nice start to the season to have that place, but we have seen that you don’t have to win the first race to win the season. It was nice to retire the DS E-TENSE FE20 with some eventful racing today so I will be taking that with me when I re-load for Rome.”
