Da Costa explains 'angry' comment as personal battles revealed

Antonio Felix da Costa has explained the reasoning behind his "angry" comment after winning the second race of the recent Portland Formula E double-header, and has detailed his personal battles. 

The Porsche driver is in the form of his life currently, having won four of the last five races. He has risen from the ashes to now be a genuine outsider for the title, which will be decided in London next weekend. 

Da Costa has dealt with a huge amount this season: being told not to compete in his beloved WEC by Porsche, having Porsche test Abt Cupra's Nico Müller mid-season and having his emotional Misano victory taken away by the FIA several hours after the race had concluded.

His Misano disqualification for a non-performance enhancing technical infraction – the International Court of Appeal rejected Porsche's appeal – has had huge ramifications on da Costa's title chances. 

He heads to next weekend's Formula E double-header finale in London 33 points behind Nick Cassidy, and needing a miracle. A miracle does seem to be in motion based on his recent form, which has seen him ride a wave of emotions. 

One of those emotions has been anger, as said by the driver himself in the Portland E-Prix press conference after securing his second win of the event. RacingNews365 asked the season six Formula E champion why that was.

"I said I was many things, and angry was one of them," da Costa told RacingNews365. "I hope one day I can tell the story of my last six months. Winning is obviously amazing and I will never, ever take it for granted, but it has this other effect on you. 

"I have a little bit of the feeling of what the year could have been first of all, but then it also has to do with my my endurance career, which is something that I've worked very, very hard to be become good at. 

"I did six or seven years of endurance, I've managed to win some of the biggest races in the world there. And obviously, this year, I had to sit it out. There's obviously some stuff going on in the background there, trying to see if I can come back. So there's just a lot going on. 

"Sometimes things work out the way you want it, sometimes they don't. It was just a lot going on, I was happy to to be able to win the races. I was just hot out of the car and the bigger feeling was just happiness."

Personal discoveries

A key moment this year in Formula E has been Porsche conducting a mid-season test with Müller, which sent shockwaves throughout the paddock. 

It raised immediate questions about da Costa's future with the team; however, following his recent performances, it is looking likely that he will remain with the German manufacturer next season.

Da Costa has been in motorsport for over 20 years, although even he has recognised that 2024 has been one of the toughest of his life. 

An emotional rollercoaster has been experienced, although it has enabled him to make some substantial personal discoveries, with a lot having been learnt about himself. 

"A huge amount," revealed da Costa. "A huge amount about myself, about how to react in bad days, how to turn people around to come and support me to elevate after a bad moment. 

"I think it'll only help me in the future. It's been amazing, like really to try to understand how can I shape things around me to really get me out of a bad moment, when things are down and we want to go back up."