Formula E

Two wins from two for Da Costa in Berlin

2 Mins read
Credit: Formula E

Antonio Felix da Costa cruised to another easy victory to make it two wins from two in Berlin, and his third win a row this season.

Despite saying afterwards that he found it a tough race as he battled with battery temperatures, the Portuguese driver made it look easy as he led every lap and crossed the line three seconds ahead of Sebastien Buemi behind him.

It means he takes another huge step towards winning the drivers’ championship, and with two more races this weekend on the reverse layout of the Berlin Tempelhof track it will take a titanic effort from his rivals to turn around the clear advantage he and his DS Techeetah car has.

Buemi himself said he was happy to win what he called “Formula E 1.5” – his reference to his feeling that Da Costa is in a different league to the rest of the field given his pace advantage.

And behind him Lucas di Grassi grabbed his first podium of 2020 after a great battle over the final laps between himself, Robin Frijns, Stoffel Vandoorne and latterly Sam Bird.

The use of Attack Mode had seen Frijns and Di Grassi swap positions regularly throughout the race, but some robust defending at the end saw the Audi Sport ABT Schaeffler driver take a hard-fought third place.

Frijns finished in fourth just ahead of Vandoorne who drove a superb race to come through the field and score solid points, the highlight of his race being a double overtake on Bird and Oliver Rowland.

Sam Bird also made solid progress from ninth to finish in sixth, well ahead of Rowland and Edorado Mortara behind.

Andre Lotterer made his way into the points in ninth but it was another disappointing race for Jean-Eric Vergne, who claimed his rear tyres had gone with fifteen minutes left of the race and once again lacked the pace of his team-mate.

It was disappointment too for Alex Lynn who would have hoped for points after an impressive qualifying saw him start in third, but a missed attempt to activate Attack Mode cost him and he slipped down the order as the race progressed.

Panasonic Jaguar Racing also failed to make up for their poor qualifying earlier in the day with Mitch Evans only able to make his way up to twelfth which deals what looks like a fatal blow to his title hopes.

Maximilian Gunther might also consider his title hopes over as he retired from the race after early contact led to a broken front wing and front left puncture.

Although he rejoined after a pit stop he was a lap down and the team pulled him in with a few laps remaining in the race.

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Formula E writer for TCF since 2015-16 and fascinated by all things electric.
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