Nick Cassidy made it two wins from two in the Formula E London E-Prix, signing off from Jaguar TCS Racing in style, amid a controversial strategy that angered team-mate Mitch Evans.

A 13.5 second advantage at the end saw the Kiwi cruise to a stunning victory, which also perfectly ended the reign of Team Principal of James Barclay.

Evans, who was given a five-second penalty earlier in the race, was incensed by a lack of strategic help, and ultimately dropped to fifth having finished second on the road.

Nyck de Vries took second as a consequence, as Sebastien Buemi took third, with Jake Dennis fourth.

Antonio Felix da Costa scored a sensational sixth after starting last, with Max Guenther seventh, and Pascal Wehrlein eighth.

Lucas di Grassi also impressed with ninth, having started on the back row with da Costa, with David Beckmann taking his first points for Cupra Kiro with 10th.

The results confirmed Tag Heuer Porsche’s victory as Teams’ Champions, with the German marque also winning the Manufacturers’ Championship along with Andretti and Kiro.

At the start, Cassidy chopped across Guenther to keep his lead into Turn 1, with Evans up to third, with Ticktum dropping down to seventh, but quickly taking Vandoorne back for sixth place.

Mortara crawled to a halt and out of the race, as Rowland made his way up to eighth, with da Costa moving ahead of di Grassi for 20th place.

Evans had a look around Guenther’s outside but the DS Penske driver resisted Evans eventually made it through at the end of Lap 3, with Rowland now up to sixth.

He had a look at Wehrlein into Turn 1, with Ticktum now eighth behind Nato.

De Vries divebombed Guenther for third, which let Wehrlein through into fourth, as Ticktum took Nato for seventh.

Rowland was now up to third at the end of Lap 5, as Ticktum harried Nato, and pitched him sideways, putting him through as well as Mueller, who took sixth off both of them.

Wehrlein took his first Attack Mode, dropping down to eighth, as Evans took third off Rowland, who then took his first attack and let Mueller through to fourth.

Barnard was also on extra energy now, as Rowland quickly took his fourth place back and quickly set off in search of Evans.

Rowland’s sensational season ends in disappointment

Guenther took his first Attack Mode and dropped to eighth, as Wehrlein took Barnard for sixth, and up ahead, Rowland took Evans for third and then went for de Vries, but contact saw Rowland’s front wing damaged.

Barnard and Nato were in wall, ending their battle, but both men got going again and pitted. A Full Course Yellow was the result but quickly went green again.

De Vries went for his first Attack Mode and dropped to fourth, as bits of Rowland’s front wing shed itself. Nato was able to keep going but was now in last place, but Barnard was out in his last race for McLaren.

All the while, Cassidy led by three seconds from Rowland, with de Vries now back ahead of Evans.

He then made another divebomb, this time on Rowland into Turn 1, who nearly lost third to Mueller, the pair going wheel to wheel on Lap 16, but into Lap 17, it all went wrong for the World Champion.

Defending Mueller’s advances into Turn 1, Rowland went deep and clouted the Andretti as it made the switch back.

Rowland went into the wall at Turn 2, Mueller’s car was now damaged, ending his race and bringing out the Safety Car.

Evans seemingly left hung to dry as Cassidy takes emotional victory

It return to the pits at the end of Lap 19, with Evans receiving a five-second time penalty for an overspeeding infringement.

But he was quickly up to second, making it a Jaguar 1-2, as he took his Attack Mode, and not losing track position in the process.

It seemed that perhaps he would be able to take the lead in a team game but instead, he was ordered to hold position.

They then took their final Attack Modes together on Lap 27 as an angry Evans demanded a tow from Cassidy to help him secure a buffer and a potential podium position.

Cassidy was on a mission to get the fastest lap, according to the team, and then he would drop back to help Evans, as dr Vries held onto third.

Ticktum, who pitted for a puncture earlier in the race, and was also the recipient of a five-second time penalty, was giving a valiant effort, moving up to sixth on the road.

Buemi was now fourth, with Dennis fifth, as Cassidy continued to streak clear, now 7.5 seconds ahead of Evans.

The lead was now nine seconds by Lap 33, with two extra laps added to make a total of 36.

Now on the penultimate lap, the lead was 11 seconds, with de Vries and Buemi now sniffing around Evans.

Wehrlein was in trouble, suffering car damage and dropping back to ninth, with da Costa, who started last, now in eighth, as di Grassi, who started alongside him, was 10th.

Cassidy crossed the line to win by 13 seconds, with de Vries second and Buemi inheriting second and third. Evans dropped down to fifth as a result of his penalty, who was told there was no answer from the team about the strategy at play.

READ MORE – London E-Prix: Nick Cassidy takes Race 2 pole in final race for Jaguar

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Nick Cassidy took pole position for Race 2 of the Formula E London E-Prix in what will be his final race for the Jaguar TCS Racing team.

Cassidy was defeated in the final by Dan Ticktum, but a grid penalty given yesterday meant he would start first.

Maximilian Guenther was second, with Mitch Evans third, who deliberately slowed in his semi-final duel with Cassidy to ensure him a place in the final in a team game.

Pascal Wehrlein would be in fourth, with Nyck de Vries fifth, as Ticktum’s penalty left him to start sixth.

Stoffel Vandoorne was seventh, with Edoardo Mortara eighth, and the Nissans of Norman Nato and Oliver Rowland rounding up the top 10.

Group A began with a disaster for Antonio Felix da Costa, who went straight on down the escape road into Turn 1, and being told to stop the car due to a technical problem.

The session was red flagged with Porsche able to try and remedy da Costa’s problems, with Cassidy itching to get back out.

He went second fastest with Mortara’s 1:08.583s the best so far, with team-mate de Vries popping up into second place.

Evans was in fourth, with da Costa confirmed to not be going back out, putting him at the back of the grid for the race.

Evans improved to go second, with Cassidy also leapfrogging de Vries, with Mortara staying top.

Oliver Rowland was once again out at the first hurdle of qualifying, surely relieved the title fight did not go down to this weekend.

Group B began with the two DS Penskes first and second, with Jean-Eric Vergne top, but Vandoorne quickly displaced them at the top, with Sebastien Buemi also getting into the leading four cars.

Vergne went wide on his second run, putting him in the danger zone as he was now seventh, with Wehrlein and Ticktum getting up the order, the Englishman going top.

Taylor Barnard couldn’t make it through, with Guenther improving on his time to ensure his safety into the duel phase.

Ticktum, Wehrlein and Vandoorne would be the others through, with the four Nissan-powered cars all failing to make it through for the second race running.

Jaguars storm through

The first duel pitted Evans against de Vries, the Saturday pole-sitter against the Saturday podium-finisher.

Evans was two thousandths down at Sector 1, but was then a tenth up, and then three tenths up, his 1:07.473s enough to see him through.

The second Jag of Cassidy made up the next duel with the second Mahindra of Mortara. Mortara may well have been confident but locked up at Turn 1, going straight off into the escape road and ending his duel before it began.

A brake-by-wire problem caused the lock-up, leaving Cassidy to continue on to set a 1:07.130s, three tenths up on his team-mate.

The third quarter-final placed Wehrlein against Guenther, an all-German affair.

Wehrlein’s Porsche was a tenth up after the first sector, which is how it continued towards the end of the lap.

But Guenther managed to find more time in the final sector to ensure his 1:07.316s was enough to go through.

Vandoorne, who qualified well on Saturday, was against home favourite Ticktum in the final duel.

Ticktum was two tenths up in Sector 1 and then a further tenth up in the second. And then in the third, it was eighth tenths.

The Kiro man’s 1:07.021s was quicker than the Maserati by almost a whole second, a whole tenth quicker that Cassidy’s time.

Jaguars play team game as Cassidy takes pole despite Ticktum’s stellar lap

The first semi-final pitted the two Jaguars together, with and Cassidy a hundredth ahead midway through the lap, he locked-up and handed Evans the final place.

But he didn’t, as Evans slowed at the end of his lap, so much so that Cassidy’s clumsy lap was half-a-second quicker, perhaps a tactic to ensure Cassidy can finish second in the championship.

With Ticktum’s five-place grid penalty going to take effect, it ensured that Cassidy would take pole, further emphasising the team game.

The second semi was Guenther v Ticktum and it was the home favourite up by a tenth in Sector 1.

Ticktum’s 1:07.037s secured a final place by two tenths, setting up a battle royale between him and Cassidy for pole.

The final, although academic, went ahead with Cassidy slightly down on Ticktum in Sector 1, and in Sector 2, it was now a tenth, and then two and by the end, his 1:07.278s was enough for the effective pole positon and three points.

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Nick Cassidy took victory in Race 1 of the Formula E London E-Prix, in what was his penultimate race for the Jaguar TCS Racing outfit.

Cassidy made good use of his Pit Boost and Attack Mode strategy to complete a sterling victory from fifth on the grid, his second successive FE win.

Nyck de Vries put up a valiant effort to finish second, with Pascal Wehrlein third, and Stoffel Vandoorne fourth.

Jake Dennis drove brilliant from outside the top 10 to finish fifth, with Edoardo Mortara completing a double-points finish for Mahindra.

Robin Frijns was eighth, with Norman Nato ninth, and Mitch Evans 10th, the polesitter being spun out of a higher finish by Dan Ticktum late in the race.

At the start, Evans led away from de Vries, Wehrlein and Cassidy.

Further back, a bottleneck was created by an incident between Max Guenther and Jake Hughes, the pair colliding and leaving the DS Penske shedding carbon fibre.

The Safety Car was brought out with both men out of the race, as the others caught up in it were given a chance to reverse and continue.

The race restarted with Evans leading de Vries, with Mortara now benefitting from the early incident to move into sixth, with Jake Dennis making his way up to seventh.

A rhythm was created and by Lap 11, the order was relatively unchanged, but gains had been made further up the field, with Lucas di Grassi up to 15th, Antonio Felix da Costa up to 13th and David Beckmann in a points-scoring 10th position.

Oliver Rowland was also up to 12th, as Taylor Barnard was still languishing down in 19th place, his cause even further detrimented by receiving a five-second time penalty for a Safety Car infraction.

Sam Bird was the first to take Pit Boost, with Beckmann opting for Attack Mode, the first driver to in the race.

He was followed by de Vries, Wehrlein, Rowland, the two Lolas and Bird, as Cassidy, Ticktum, Dennis and da Costa took their Pit Boost.

On his extra power, de Vries took the lead on Lap 18, with Wehrlein following suit soon after. Evans would take his first attack a lap later.

This promoted Beckmann to third, with Rowland up to fifth, as Barnard was now up to ninth on his extra power.

De Vries then took a second Attack Mode with more pitting, with de Vries doing so as his Attack Mode ran out, leading by 4.4 seconds from Wehrlein, who also pitted.

This put Robin Frijns into the lead, with de Vries returning in second, with Cassidy ahead of Wehrlein, the Kiwi putting Attack Mode on with 11 laps to go.

Cassidy takes charge to complete thrilling win

The Jaguar was now swarming all over the back of de Vries’ rear, the Mahindra defending superbly, but into Lap 28, Cassidy was through on the start-finish straight.

Dennis, da Costa, Mueller and Frijns were on their final Attack Modes, but da Costa was in the wars, having tagged the Andretti in front of him, with the Porsche’s front wing flapping around in the London wind.

Ticktum, up on power compared to everyone else and desperate to make good on it, tried to take Evans for seventh, but spun the Jaguar round at the end of Lap 30.

Evans rejoined in 15th place as Ticktum, Mortara, Vergne and Vandoorn were all on their extra power, with Cassidy taking it also.

But his likely victory was now in danger, as the Safety Car came out again, with Ticktum out, planting his Kiro nose-first into the wall after outbraking himself in his attempt to overtake Vergne.

The Safety Car came in at the end of Lap 34, with Cassidy in the lead and race control adding one lap, giving a total of 38.

Frijns in ninth and Sebastien Buemi, Rowland, Beckmann and di Grassi were the drivers still yet to take their second Attack Mode, but all did so into Lap 36.

Mueller’s race was effectively done after putting his Andretti into the wall, dropping him down, but was able to reverse out and get going again.

Cassidy needn’t have been concerned about de Vries taking his victory, as he streaked into a lead of 1.5s, which he held until the end, taking successive victories/

Wehrlein came home in third, with Vandoorne taking a superb fourth, with Dennis also completing a stellar drive to finish fifth.

The result was a strengthening for Porsche in both Teams and Constructors’ championships, with Nato the sole Nissan scorer.

Both Cassidy and Team Principal James Barclay most certainly got their Jaguar farewell party on the way, the big cat purring again after a tough Season 11.

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Mitch Evans took pole position for Race 1 of the Formula E London E-Prix, after a thrilling qualifying session that saw plenty of shocks in the order.

Evans defeated Mahindra’s Nyck de Vries in the final to secure pole on a track where his Jaguar package is always strong.

Pascal Wehrlein will line up in third, with Dan Ticktum fourth. Evans’ team-mate Nick Cassidy strengthens Jaguar’s hopes with fifth place.

Max Guenther will start sixth, followed by the Maserati pairing of Stoffel Vandoorne and Jake Hughes.

Edoardo Mortara was ninth, with Nico Mueller out-qualifying team-mate Jake Dennis with 10th.

Group A saw some shocks, with works Nissans of World Champion Oliver Rowland and Norman Nato out, followed by its customer McLarens.

It would be Berlin race-winner Nick Cassidy who went through quickest with a 1:08.785s, with Max Guenther second, nearly two tenths behind.

Nyck de Vries was fourth, with Dan Ticktum just sneaking through with a time half-a-tenth quicker than Nico Mueller.

Group B saw Pascal Wehrlein go through with a 1:08.690s, with Mitch Evans ensuring double Jaguar interest in the duels, but was two tenths down.

Jake Hughes and Stoffel Vandoorne snuck their Maseratis into the top four, condemning Antonio Felix da Costa, Edoardo Mortara and Jean-Eric Vergne as big casualites.

De Vries secures final place as Evans edges out Wehrlein

The first duel placed de Vries against Guenther, and the pair were barely separated in their respective laps, but the 1:07.547s of de Vries was ultimately faster by over a tenth, the German losing time in the final sector.

Duel number two placed Ticktum against Cassidy, and it would be the home favourite that stormed through, taking his place in the semi-finals by just 0.017s.

The third placed Hughes against Evans, now holding Jaguar’s hopes on his own, and the Kiwi’s 1:07.657s was enough to see him through by nearly two tenths.

Vandoorne and Wehrlein made up the final quarter-final and it would be the German that went through with 1:07.603s, against by nearly two tenths.

Onto the semi-finals, Ticktum was pitted against de Vries, and despite the home support, the Kiro could not make it through to the final, de Vries taking the spot with 1:07.643s, less than a tenth ahead.

Evans and Wehrlein would compete for a shot at pole in the second semi-final. Evans’ 1:07.301s saw him take the place in the final by just three hundredths.

The final looked like it could be Evans’ to lose given his recent form, and that’s how it proved to be, as he would take pole with a 1:07.205, nearly two tenths ahead of de Vries, although the Mahindra can still be proud of a valiant effort.

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Antonio Felix da Costa has taken to social media to publicly apologise to Nick Cassidy for the collision that altered the course of this year’s FIA Formula E World Championship.

The Portuguese driver tangled with Cassidy’s Jaguar in the final race of season to take the Kiwi out of contention, having come into the weekend 12 points clear at the top of the Drivers’ championship.

The incident allowed da Costa’s team-mate Pascal Wehrlein to come through to win the title for the first time, but resulted in a five second time penalty for da Costa, dropping him out of the order and ultimately handing the new Manufacturers’ crown to Jaguar, with Porsche having claimed the trophy after the initial result.

Writing on his X account, da Costa, after reflecting on his own personal season, said:

“Lastly, to put this to bed, I have spoken with Nick, and by putting my self in his shoes I can not even start to imagine the pain he is feeling. I’ve apologized to him, his family and his team.”

“The way he behaved, and the way he drove last Sunday, is not short from what the best drivers in the world are doing. We’ve always raced clean and I hope we can keep doing it for a few more years.

Over the weekend, da Costa told Motorsport Week that he was happy his early-season issues with Porsche had been resolved

“Honestly, I’m so happy I was able to turn things around and put myself back into a position of strength in all areas on the driving and the results side, as well as the contractual situation,” he said.

“Results are king in this sport, and I’m happy to be on that side of things.”

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Oliver Rowland told Motorsport Week that he sensed that the three-way fight for the FIA Formula E World Championship would escalate in-front of him during the final round in London.

The Nissan man started ninth on the grid at the ExCel Centre, but managed to capitalise on a slowing tempo of the race to work his way into contention. With title-chasing Nick Cassidy taken out, Mitch Evans missing Attack Mode twice, and Pascal Wehrlein aware that he did not need to fight for victory to ensure his World Champion status, Rowland was able to jump over the obstacles in-front of him and cruise to a win on home soil.

Asked if he envisaged such an eventuality playing-out, Rowland told Motorsport Week he could foresee chaos.

“Well, the way I saw it was I was kind-of second behind Nick, because those two [Evans and Wehrlein] had to take both Attack Modes which is quite a big penalty,” he said.

“But the problem was they were slowing the race down so much that it was becoming quite dangerous, and you saw Nick got caught by Antonio, not intentionally, but it was pretty sketchy so I was trying to keep a gap.

“I knew that when it was going to come to it, something was going to happen, not from the three but from an external source, which I was trying for it not to be. But it was going to blow up at some point either way. It must have been amazing to follow and understand!”

Rowland played-down his own title credentials all season long, seeing himself very much as an outsider given that the Nissan team had no expectations to challenge as well as they eventually did. Given that he ends Season 10 with two victories and fourth place in the championship – despite missing both Portland races due to illness – Rowland is now confident of his team working towards a fiercer challenge in Season 11, particularly given the final-race win will, as he sees it, boost morale within the Japanese squad.

“It puts the icing on the cake and the most important thing is that it motivates everyone for the off-season.

“If you come away from a weekend with no points and everybody is down, you’ve got no energy, but seeing everybody’s faces, they will go back to the workshop hungry to do more.”

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Almost four months on from the season nine finale in London, TAG Heuer Porsche Formula E Team’s appeal regarding António Félix da Costa’s three-minute penalty has been rejected by the International Court of Appeal.

The appeal being rejected means that the full results from season nine are finally able to be confirmed, with Da Costa claiming ninth in the Drivers’ Championship and Porsche fourth in the Teams’ Standings.

Da Costa was slapped with a staggering three-minute time penalty in the final race of the London E-Prix double-header, which demoted him from second to last at the end of the event. The Portuguese driver received the penalty after his front-right tyre had fallen below the minimum tyre pressure, something which was caused by debris on the circuit.

Porsche went to the Court of Appeal as their initial appeal to the FIA was unsuccessful, with the Stuttgart-based outfit having argued that they’d informed the governing body of the delaminated tyre, only to be given the all-clear to continue. Da Costa was seething with the stewards after the race and insisted that they weren’t good enough.

The Court of Appeal held a hearing on 7 November regarding Porsche’s case, only to deem it as inadmissible. Whilst they accepted that the size of the penalty was “unusual”, they noted that the stewards actions cannot be contested if the time penalty goes by the sporting regulations.

Porsche argued that the duration of the penalty was equivalent to Da Costa being disqualified. When a driver gets disqualified, they are typically granted a hearing. Ultimately, the Court of Appeal deemed that the penalty Da Costa received was not “arbitrary”.

The Court stated: “It is true that the 3-minute penalty was unusual, but no clear evidence (of arbitrariness) was presented to the court.

“If (the team) had been able to show that the stewards had deliberately imposed a disproportionate time penalty instead of disqualifying the driver to deny him the right to be heard, the court might have come to a different conclusion.”

The decision reached by the Court of Appeal has left the German manufacturer “disappointed” as they wanted to “put forward our arguments”; however, they’re now turning their full attention to season 10.

An official Porsche statement read: “We accept the court’s decision but are disappointed that our appeal was not admissible, as we would have liked to put forward our arguments in the interests of the sport. We are looking ahead and our full focus is on the upcoming season.”

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A final decision over António Félix da Costa’s London E-Prix penalty will be made by the FIA International Court of Appeal, after FIA stewards rejected an initial appeal made by the TAG Heuer Porsche Formula E Team.

It’s been almost a month since the 2022/23 Formula E season concluded, yet we’re no closer to knowing the exact final standings in both championships. This is due to an ongoing battle between Porsche and the FIA, following a controversial penalty which was given to Da Costa in the opening London race at the end of July.

Da Costa was slapped with an unfathomable three-minute time penalty because of his front right Hankook tyre being below the minimum legal pressure. The penalty demoted the Portuguese driver from second to P16, a result which has impacted the driver and the team.

Porsche and the season six Champion immediately argued that the tyre pressure was low due to hitting a piece of debris, rather than a deliberate attempt at cheating. On August 11, the stewards received notice that Porsche officially requested a review of the penalty.

As things stand, Da Costa is down as having finished ninth in the Drivers’ Championship; however, if the penalty is revoked then he’ll be promoted to fifth. It’s a similar story for Porsche, who will move ahead of their customer team Avalanche Andretti and into third in the Constructors’ Championship, if their appeal is successful.

The chances of their appeal being successful appear to be weakening, after their first opportunity to have it overturned was dismissed.

A virtual meeting took place on Tuesday, which included Porsche Team Principal Florian Modlinger, Porsche Team Manager Amiel Lindesay, FIA technical delegate Laurent Arnaud, FIA Head of Sporting Matters Pablo Marti and Andretti Team Principal Roger Griffiths. Griffiths was present due to the implications an overturn of Da Costa’s penalty would have on them.

According to e-formula.news, Porsche argued that they are responsible for the safety of their cars and insisted that Da Costa’s car was, in fact, safe at all times.

However, it was deemed by the stewards that the German manufacturer didn’t present any “significant and relevant” new information, with the team having known during the race that Da Costa’s front right tyre was below the legal minimum tyre pressure. As Porsche were aware, a defective sensor couldn’t be proven.

As the stewards felt that Porsche didn’t present any new information which wasn’t known at the time of the incident, their right of review was dismissed, meaning that for the time being the penalty stands.

The FIA stated: “There is no significant and relevant new element which was unavailable to the parties seeking the review at the time of the decision concerned. The Petition is therefore dismissed.”

Porsche will now take their case to the Court of Appeal, with a hearing date yet to be announced. It means that the final outcome of both championships might not be officially known for several weeks or even months.

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Formula E tyre supplier Hankook received criticism from Sam Bird at the recent season finale, with the ex-Jaguar driver having complained about the “absolutely no good” tread pattern on the tyres.

The final race of the season at the London E-Prix was a treacherous affair, as heavy rainfall led to two red flag stoppages. The race had initially gotten underway behind the Safety Car; however, the first red flag was flown after four laps under the neutralised conditions.

Following a 30-minute delay, the race resumed once again behind the Safety Car, which led the field for a further two laps. Towards the end of the second lap, though, another red flag was required as the rain had intensified.

40 minutes later, the 16th and final round finally saw green flag racing. Despite racing having properly gotten underway, very little action took place. Due to the spray and poor grip levels, very few overtakes took place, with Bird having revealed that the tyres weren’t getting rid of the surface water.

A general complaint about Hankook’s Formula E compound this season has been how hard it is, something which has made generating heat that much more challenging than it was when Michelin were the sport’s tyre supplier.

Hankook haven’t really had an opportunity to gather data in wet conditions during their first Formula E campaign, with the vast majority of the sessions having been completed in the dry.

Bird was adamant that the tread pattern on Hankook’s rubber wasn’t suitable for the wet conditions seen at the ExCeL Centre, to the extent that the race was more about “survival than anything else”.

“I’m sure the Gen3 car would have been great in those conditions, but the tread pattern on the current tyre is absolutely no good for those kind of conditions,” Bird complained to Motorsport Week.

“And it doesn’t get rid of the water. So we’re just skating around. We’re not generating any heat in the tyre to then go quicker, so we’re just sliding around. So it’s more survival than anything else. And some people survive better than others.”

The conditions were truly horrific, to the extent that NIO 333’s Dan Ticktum was “shouting down the radio” insisting that it was “way too dangerous” whilst behind the Safety Car. Despite the conditions, all 22 drivers finished the race, with not a single yellow flag having been required when racing actually got underway.

Ticktum was one of the only drivers to complete an overtake in the conditions, which he described as being “honestly pretty dangerous”.

“They [the conditions] were very bad. Scot [Elkins] said that we were about to go racing before the first red flag and I was basically shouting down the radio saying it’s way too dangerous,” said Ticktum, as reported by Autosport.

“It was honestly pretty dangerous for the whole race even when it did start but everyone here is very experienced and mature.

“On the straights, basically, we couldn’t see, no one was doing anything stupid so [we were] able to have a pretty clean race which was good in the end.”

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António Félix da Costa was left furious with the FIA last Saturday at the London E-Prix and slammed them as being “not good enough” for Formula E, following an unbelievable penalty.

Last weekend’s Formula E season finale at the ExCeL Centre was a chaotic affair, with the opening race of the weekend having been an incident-packed event. Two red flags were required last Saturday following a couple of big collisions, with one of the incidents having involved 14 cars.

A 14-car pile up occurred at the penultimate corner towards the end of the race, by which point Da Costa found himself in second behind Mitch Evans. The season six Champion was having an incredible race, having made up 15 places.

However, during the second red flag stoppage, TAG Heuer Porsche Formula E Team discovered that Da Costa had a slow puncture, caused by debris on the circuit.

Da Costa informed an FIA technical delegate that he had a slow puncture but that his car was completely safe, with the delegate having allowed him to continue the race without changing the tyre.

Despite this, it was confirmed in the closing laps that Da Costa had been slapped with a mind-boggling three-minute time penalty, for a ‘technical infringement’. This technical infringement just so happened to be his slow puncture, much to the team’s and driver’s anger.

Da Costa insisted to the media after the race that he had a puncture and was by no means “trying to be illegal to find performance”, by running a low tyre pressure.

“I have a puncture, I’m not trying to play with the tyre pressure, I have a puncture,” Da Costa told the media, including Motorsport Week.

“I am actually nursing the car home. I’m not trying to be illegal to find performance, I actually lose performance. I have no air in my tyre.”

Unsurprisingly, the staggering time penalty demoted Da Costa to last, removing him from the podium, which would’ve been huge for Porsche. Porsche entered the weekend 14 points off the top of the Constructors’ Championship and were set to reduce their deficit considerably, ahead of the penalty being awarded.

Something which was very noticeable when the race finally restarted last Saturday following the second red flag, was that a number of cars rejoined the circuit without a front wing. Da Costa’s team-mate Pascal Wehrlein would’ve been one of them, but he was given a “direct command” by the FIA to be fitted with a new one.

Due to having changed front wings, Wehrlein was forced to restart the race from last, demoting him out of the points. Da Costa criticised the FIA for this and questioned where their “consistency” was, with the driver pleading for “common sense” to prevail.

“And they tell Pascal to go in the garage and change his front wing, like they mandated him to do it. That was a direct command,” revealed Da Costa.

“So why are some cars allowed to go out with broken cars and some others are not? So where is the consistency here? And they throw a race away like this. I just want consistency and common sense. You know what I mean?”

Da Costa confirmed on Saturday that Porsche were going to appeal, with the huge penalty having “completely compromised” the Stuttgart-based outfit’s title hopes. It took the FIA 15 hours to officially confirm Saturday’s classification, with Da Costa’s podium having not been reinstated. Porsche ended up finishing third in the standings following Sunday’s race.

“Yeah, we are appealing it,” Da Costa informed the media.

“We are appealing it because, yes, today, I don’t even really care about my podium. But we are playing. There’s a lot to play. We’re at the end of a championship here. It’s an important title for us, the teams’ title.

“And if we keep this result, we go into tomorrow, I don’t know, four, three, five points, I don’t know, away from the lead, everything to play for. And now it’s completely compromised for us.

“And I’m not going to the simulator for every race for three or four days, spending hundreds of days away from my family and all the hard work these engineers and mechanics have to come here and have races taken away from us like this. I’ve done more than 100 races in Formula E. I know when a car is safe to drive.

“I told him [FIA delegate] the car is safe. He let me go out. And now I get this penalty. Like, not even a chance to discuss it together. They just apply it to us. Yes, if you go by the rule, we are under and other cars have been disqualified in the past for being under.

“But we are not under by a bit because we’re playing with the gray areas with the legality limits. I have a puncture in my car because other drivers are driving around with broken front wings, and I actually been hit on my front right tyre. It’s just super disappointing.”

Da Costa went as far as stating on Saturday that the stewards and technical delegates are “not good enough” to regulate Formula E, with the 31-year-old believing that they lack the “technical expertise”.

“I don’t believe they have the technical expertise enough to regulate a World Championship like us with all these manufacturers and drivers here, they are not good enough,” Da Costa insisted.

The Porsche driver will likely hear from the FIA following his comments about the handling of the situation, as he shared his frustration in a series of tweets as well.

Da Costa used Lewis Hamilton’s victory at the 2020 British Grand Prix as an example of inconsistency amongst the FIA, as the Mercedes driver won the race despite having a completely delaminated tyre. Hamilton wasn’t penalised.

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