Antonio Felix da Costa said that a podium finish would have been on the cards had it not been for a problem in his pit stops at the second round of the Hong Kong ePrix.
The MS&AD Andretti driver was running in sixth but managed to extend his first stint to stop a lap later than the rest of the field.
He felt the energy advantage he would have had in the second stint could have seen him make progress, but a delay in starting his second car cost him 20 seconds in the pit stops.
Da Costa ended up finishing twenty-eight seconds behind the leader, and with Edorado Mortara spinning late on he felt that he could have finished as high as second.
“It was a disappointing end to what was looking to be a very, very promising race,” da Costa said afterwards.
“We had a good qualifying and got ourselves starting in P6. We managed to be very, very good on energy saving – went a lap longer than everyone.
“We were going to have a strong second stint, then we came in for the pit stop. We lost 20 seconds and finished the race 28 seconds behind the leader.
“We would have been very, very close. I think at least P2 would have been ours so it’s very disappointing to finish 12th. We’ll figure out what happened and come back ready for Marrakesh.”
Despite their final result, the weekend was a marked improvement for Andretti.
Their car was languishing towards the back of the field at the end of the 2016-17 season, with da Costa complaining of problems under braking.
They seem to have been solved though, with da Costa’s Andretti capable of running comfortably in the top ten throughout the ePrix.
