Formula E pre-season testing in Madrid: Porsche driver Antonio Felix da Costa fastest on day 1

Porsche driver Antonio Felix da Costa set the fastest lap on the first day of Formula E pre-season testing in Madrid. With a time of 1:29.220 minutes, he left Jake Dennis and Max Günther in his wake and won the first of seven sessions this week. In a largely uneventful three-hour session, the Porsche and Stellantis cars presented themselves in good early form, while Jaguar and Nissan had to sit out due to penalties.

The first test session in Madrid began a day late at 2 pm on Tuesday afternoon. Shortly beforehand, a joint minute's silence was held for the flood victims in the Valencia region. All drivers and teams as well as media representatives took part in this on the start/finish straight. Following the penalties resulting from a breach of the Formula E cost cap, the Jaguar and Nissan works teams did not compete in the first session.

The Formula E paddock today held a minute's silence ahead of pre-season testing. Our thoughts are with all those affected in Valencia ❤️ pic.twitter.com/mP07JrDw3L

— Formula E (@FIAFormulaE) November 5, 2024

In the early stages, the two McLaren drivers were the first on track. Youngster Taylor Barnard, in particular, was fast and was to be among the front runners again and again later in the session. However, world champion Pascal Wehrlein then joined the track and turned up the pace. During the first hour, he alternated with Barnard at the front several times.

Starting difficulties for Frijns

Robin Frijns, who was unable to set a lap time in the first 60 minutes, and Jake Dennis, who could not quite keep up in the Andretti, initially had problems. After the first third of the afternoon's testing, Lucas di Grassi, Sam Bird and Nyck de Vries completed the top five behind the leading duo.

Oh, it's good to be back ?‍? pic.twitter.com/N8oOPbO8lW

- Formula E (@FIAFormulaE) November 5, 2024

The next good lap came after just over an hour and a half from Max Günther. The DS Penske driver was the first to break through the 1:30 barrier and distanced the field by more than half a second with a time of 1:29.661 minutes.

Antonio Felix da Costa then set a remarkable lap time (1:29.220 minutes). He was once again more than four tenths of a second faster than everyone else. Thanks to him, Jake Dennis and Nico Müller, three Porsches were in the top four at one point, but not much else happened in the second and third hour of testing.

A few minutes before the end, there were still some improvements. Edo Mortara, for example, moved up into the leading group in fourth place, splitting up a pack of eight Porsche and Stellantis cars that seemed to be in quite good form. However, the fact that Jaguar and Nissan were unable to drive due to penalties distorts the picture.

Formula E makes short-term relocation possible

And how did the new names do? It was a decent start for Lola Yamaha ABT (10th and 16th place), although there is still room for improvement. The same applies to Kiro, who have recently started driving with (actually retired) Porsche power. Dan Ticktum and David Beckmann only managed 15th and 17th place, with Ticktum a full seven tenths of a second faster than the German.

In addition to this first small interim sporting summary, one thing remains to be said above all: respect to Formula E for making this test in Madrid possible in such a short period of time. Surely, not everything went according to plan, but the test is taking place and the teams can do their work. That's the most important thing. Testing continues in Madrid on Wednesday morning with the second session from 9 am.

Results & lap times