Antonio Felix da Costa says he can take a lot of positives from the Mexico City ePrix despite a disappointing race.
The MS&AD Andretti driver showed the improvement made by his team in the last few months by getting into the Super Pole shootout and qualifying in second.
Although he was demoted to fourth after his car was found to be underweight, it was an encouraging start for da Costa, but his fortunes changed in the race.
He quickly dropped down the order and instead of challenging for a podium he ended up finishing well off the front of the field and down in seventh place.
Despite the poor end to his Saturday, the Portuguese driver said he was looking forward to the upcoming races.
“We can take a lot of positives from today,” he said. “The pace of the car was really good all day.
“We made it into Super Pole and had a strong qualifying. Our performance in the race was a bit disappointing. We will look into this.
“However, we are making massive steps as a team. I’m looking forward to the coming races. We have the potential to score points every weekend and are definitely working in the right direction.”
There were few positives for his team-mate though, as Tom Blomqvist struggled throughout the day.
He finished down in fifteenth, one of the last drivers to finish, and described the ePrix as a learning experience.
“This was a challenging weekend, to say the least,” Blomqvist said. “Things just didn’t run smoothly for us today. We had some little issues in free practice, which set us back.
“You lose a bit of confidence and then have to go straight into the race. This wasn’t easy. The second stint was okay, but when you are coming from so far behind, it’s just very difficult.
“It was another learning weekend for myself and the MS&AD Andretti team but I know we will come back stronger in Punta del Este.”