António Félix da Costa believes his collision at last weekend’s season-opening Mexico City E-Prix with Nico Müller could’ve been avoided, had the Abt Cupra driver cooperated more.
Da Costa found himself behind Müller following a disappointing qualifying session in the Mexican capital, resulting in him starting the race in 16th. Müller, on the other hand, performed excellently in what is regarded as one of the weakest packages on the grid, and qualified in P12.
A poor start from Müller saw him tumble to 15th in the opening laps, putting him directly ahead of Da Costa. There is no doubting that Da Costa had the better race car at the Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez circuit; however, overtaking was virtually impossible.
Because of this, Da Costa was forced to “get creative”, in order to try and navigate his way past the Swiss driver. The Season 6 Champion tried to get past Müller on the second lap, only for the Abt Cupra driver to “fully” shut the door on him.
This informed Da Costa that he had to think outside the box to try and force his way past the 31-year-old, something he tried to do on the following lap. Da Costa attempted a huge lunge at Turn 3 on the Abt Cupra driver, only for Müller to close the door again, resulting in heavy contact.
Müller ended up in the wall as a result of the impact, whilst Da Costa was forced to retire from the race. The Porsche driver’s attempted move left Müller unimpressed on what was the Kempten-based side’s 100th Formula E start, with him stressing that he “dived in very late”.
Reflecting on the incident, Müller told Formula E Notebook that Da Costa “went for a very late move into Turn 3 and there is only one line through that corner. If you go a bit off line there is all this s****y concrete that has rubbed off together with the marbles.
“You know that there’s only one line, he dived in very late and hit me on my rear wheel. I spun backwards into the wall, lost my rear wing, some more damage to the car.”
The stewards agreed with Müller’s view that the incident was Da Costa’s fault, resulting in the Portuguese driver being slapped with a three-place grid penalty for the opening race of next weekend’s Diriyah double-header.
Whilst Da Costa accepts that his move was a “late move”, he believes Müller should’ve cooperated more. Da Costa believes that once he attempts a late dive, Müller “cannot keep closing the door”, something the Abt Cupra driver did by trying to hit the apex.
Da Costa argues that once he’s made the lunge he “cannot disappear anymore” and that, ultimately, the race “didn’t go right for either of us”.
Da Costa told Formula E notebook that on the lap before the collision, he “tried to use energy to pass him and he’s fully closing the door, as he’s entitled to do.
“So, I have to get creative because we can’t be burning energy to pass him for P14 or whatever. I needed a little bit of cooperation from him, there is a point there where there’s enough car overlap and if he goes to the apex at that moment I cannot disappear anymore.
“Once I make the move that late, it is a late move, but once I make that move he cannot keep closing the door,” added Da Costa. “We’ve been to the stewards now, we both have our views – all good; I respect Nico [Mueller] a lot and it’s not an easy situation for him as well, he wants to race. Today it didn’t go right for either of us.”
