"Call me a Sunday driver!" - Antonio Felix da Costa celebrates 2nd Formula E win of the season in Shanghai

For the third race weekend in a row, Antonio Felix da Costa crossed the finish line first in Sunday's Formula E race in Shanghai, proving his excellent form. You could say that his mission "cockpit defence" has been going very well in recent weeks. After a difficult start to the season, he has recently risen like a phoenix from the ashes. With his success in Shanghai, he even drew level with Pascal Wehrlein in terms of wins this season (two each).

Qualifying is always an indication of whether Antonio Felix da Costa feels comfortable on a track. If things go well there, you can most likely count on him in the race as well. This was also the case in the second race of the Shanghai E-Prix. Starting from third on the grid, he was always in the leading group, but tended to let Norman Nato and Stoffel Vandoorne do the leading work, especially in the first half of the race, in order to save energy himself.

In the second half, the Portuguese driver also became more active himself. It seemed as if he had consciously decided when he wanted to take the lead. He built up a small gap on his pursuers - something that had rarely been seen in the "slipstream races" before. He benefited from this in the final phase, as everyone was struggling with the rising temperatures and no one was actually able to utilise their energy advantage.

"We had a good qualifying today and really improved there," says Felix da Costa. "It feels great to bring home the win for the team. There was a lot of management in the race, first with the energy, then with the temperature. We were able to build up good momentum in the last few weeks and were very strong in the races."

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- TAG Heuer Porsche FE Team (@PorscheFormulaE) May 26, 2024

"I only ride on Sundays"

"Call me a Sunday driver!" he jokes in his usual humour, referring to the fact that he also crossed the finish line first in Berlin on Sunday. "I've started to get into classic cars and only drive on Sundays."

Felix da Costs once again proved his excellent form with his victory, as well as his mentality and strength of character after setbacks. This was partly due to his difficult start to the season and partly due to Saturday's race in China, in which he was subsequently penalised and dropped out of the points. "It really hurt how we lost the points yesterday. Because then the weekend would have been perfect. But I love coming back full of vigour and am very happy with how we performed today."

Felix da Costa: "Very happy to have this job"

"Everyone has to go through lows. But when times get tough, those who are tough come back even stronger. At the same time, you have to put that into perspective: In my low phases, I might sometimes have a race car that doesn't work so well. I consider myself very lucky to have this job." If Felix da Costa continues to perform as he has in recent races, he will probably be able to keep his dream job next season too.

Another driver was also very happy on Sunday, finishing on the podium in the Andretti customer Porsche and thus completing a strong weekend for the German manufacturer: Norman Nato. "It's great to have an Andretti car on the podium. It shows that we are still the brand to beat," said Felix da Costa.

After four E-Prix every two weeks, there will now be a longer break until the Portland E-Prix on 29 and 30 June. "There are still four races to go and we will continue to work hard, but I'm also looking forward to the break," says Felix da Costa. "And to the flight home, because there will be plenty of celebrations."