25
October
2015
|
18:57
Europe/Amsterdam
BMW Motorsport News – Issue 40/15.
Summary
FIA Formula E Championship kicks off in Beijing – Interview with BMW DTM driver António Félix da Costa.
Whether in the DTM, the United SportsCar Championship, or
countless other championships: week after week BMW teams and drivers
around the world do battle for points, victories and titles. Away
from the track too, members of the large BMW Motorsport family
around the world are also creating headlines. The “BMW Motorsport
News” allows us to regularly summarise all the action for you in a
compact and informative manner. This way, you are always up to speed.
Formula E: Second season gets underway in Beijing.
Sebastien Buemi (CH) started the second season of the FIA
Formula E Championship in perfect fashion becoming the first
driver ever to score the maximum possible points haul of 30 – for
pole position, fastest race lap and race victory. He was joined on
the podium at the Beijing ePrix, held in the Chinese capital, by
Lucas di Grassi (BR) and Nick Heidfeld (DE). A total of 76,000
fans followed the action during the first event of the season, and
also saw the BMW i8 Safety Car and the BMW i3 Medical Car in
action again. BMW is again the Official Vehicle Partner of the
series in the 2015/2016 season. The modifications to the two new
Safety Cars are far more performance-oriented and they have been
adapted to meet the FIA’s technical regulations ahead of the new
season. BMW DTM driver António Félix da Costa (PT) experienced a
rather unlucky start to the Formula E year. He was forced to
retire following an accident. However, the Portuguese was still
happy to return to the series for a second season.
Three questions for... António Félix da Costa.
António, the second season of Formula E has started. Are
you happy to be competing in it again?
António Félix da Costa: “I’m totally happy about that. This
championship is gaining the respect of the motorsport world, and,
for me, being part of it is very good. I feel that history is
being made in Formula E – and getting one win in the inaugural
season of the championship was just mega. So now I want to
continue to help my team to improve and hopefully get some solid
results this year.”
Is it a nice change compared to your work as a BMW DTM driver?
Félix da Costa: “It’s a good championship, with a nice
atmosphere, but obviously the way it works is totally different
and on a different level compared to the DTM. In the DTM we work
on every single detail with several engineers and a big crew for
my car, which is something that I really like and helps me enjoy
that championship. Here in Formula E it’s on a smaller scale, but
still very professional, while the most exciting thing is actually
the development of the batteries and also the race strategy for
the battery with our engineers. I think it’s great that BMW is
also involved in this series. This makes it even easier for me to
feel at home here.”
The first race of the year in Beijing, however, didn’t go
according to plan...
Félix da Costa: “Right, this wasn’t the best weekend to be
fair. In free practice we improved our car a lot, but in
qualifying we didn’t have the pace to stay in the top-ten. In the
race I was progressing quite well, running in P9 and with a good
pace, until a technical issue with the battery in my first car
occurred. This made me lose a lot of time. After that, with my
second car, I had an accident with Jacques Villeneuve, which I
totally take responsibility for, and I am sorry for him. But for
me the race was already over at that point. We have to work hard
for the next few races in order to improve our performance, but I
am confident we will get there sooner or later.”