Formula E: Da Costa takes important victory at Misano

The circuit in Misano is located in the province of Rimini and is officially called Misano World Circuit Marco Simoncelli, i.e. it bears the name of Marco Simoncelli, an Italian motorcycle racer who tragically died in 2011 during the Malaysian MotoGP round.

It is no coincidence that the circuit is named after him – traditionally motor races of championships of various levels take place here, the circuit organized and still organizes races in the GT and DTM categories, but Formula E tours in Misano for the first time.

Electric racers unanimously say that stationary circuits – unlike city circuits – are not best suited for Formula E cars, also because at high speeds it is much more difficult to rationally control battery energy consumption. Consequently, no one will want to take the lead from the start, because in terms of “electricity savings” it is much more profitable to drive behind your rivals.

Before the start of the race, everyone was curious how the drivers were going to solve this tactical problem, despite the fact that the experienced and very fast Mitch Evans started from pole position, and Jean-Eric Vergne, winner of two championship titles in Formula E, famous for his aggressive way of fighting.

The Italian circuit’s configuration actually bears little resemblance to the winding city circuits more familiar to Formula E racers, and their concerns are understandable. There are “only” 14 corners here, there are several fairly long straights, and the characteristics of the track largely determine the choice of tactics.

It was expected that no one would attack particularly intensively in the early stages of the race in order to save battery energy and take decisive action later, when the course of the battle on the track had more or less stabilized. But this is in theory, but in practice solving this problem is not so easy.

The racers were in no hurry to reveal their tactical ideas: for example, Evans avoided answering the question of how he would behave at the start. As Jean-Eric Vergne said before the race, all this promises an unpredictable and somewhat chaotic Misano E-Prix.

It is also worth recalling that the first five races of Formula E’s tenth season saw five different winners from five different teams, and again it was curious to see if this trend would continue at Misano. As further developments showed, about an hour after the start we heard the name of the sixth winner, and to this day this driver, despite all his experience, had never managed to climb the podium in 2024.

On the first lap, Evans and Vergne held their positions, but Nick Cassidy, who started well from 8th position, worked his way into third position, pushing Pascal Wehrlein aside. Yellow flags appeared briefly as Mahindra driver Edoardo Mortara retired due to a technical problem. However, the battle on the track resumed almost immediately and, predictably, the order in the group of leaders soon changed. This was partly due to the drivers taking turns using Attack Mode, a high-powered mode that required them to move off the line into a special sector in Turn 12 to activate.

Vergne started the 5th lap as the leader, but was briefly displaced from 1st position by Wehrlein, but due to contact with rival cars, both he and Cassidy had to pit to have their nose cones replaced. Of course, at this point both had to give up hope of a good outcome. Furthermore, it appeared that in both cases their cars were damaged after collisions with Vergne’s DS Penske.

On the 10th lap, Evans took the lead again and, surprisingly, Vergne’s teammate Stoffel Vandoorne, who started from a distant 18th position, moved up to second position. The Belgian was soon leading the race when Mitch decided to activate Attack Mode, allowing him to make up ground on the next lap. But he didn’t lead for long, as Vergne made his way to the front again, followed by Antonio Felix da Costa (who started 13th by the way) and Evans retained 4th position.

After another lap or two, Sam Bird led the race – such a frequent change of leader confirmed the assumptions about the chaotic nature of the battle on the track, while everyone understood and solved the tactical problem in their own way. It is clear that everyone had a common goal: the highest possible result, but the question is who achieved that and how. For example, the McLaren team scolded Bird on the radio for taking the lead too early, causing him to quickly slow down and give up the first position to others. For a while Sebastien Buemi was ahead of everyone, then da Costa, and on the 15th lap Evans returned to 1st position.

On the same lap, a dangerous incident took place between Max Gunther’s Maserati and Buemi’s Envision: the cars touched their wheels, the German’s electric car flew into the air and ended up outside the track, but fortunately everything happened in a straight line , and Max managed to keep the car under control.

On lap 18, Sam Bird complained on the radio that someone had hit him from behind, which led to a flat rear tire, which also forced the Briton back to the pits. Meanwhile, the order of the top five continued to change. On lap 20, Vergne led the race, followed by Nissan driver Oliver Rowland, but was soon passed by da Costa. Gunther held on to fourth place despite the recent incident, with Jake Dennis, the Andretti driver and reigning Formula E champion, hot on his heels.

However, Gunther soon got ahead of Rowland and Vergne let da Costa go ahead, although it was clear that this was only a temporary image. By the way, at this stage of the race, Evans was closing out of the top five and had not yet turned to active offensive actions, although he tried not to let the people behind him pass, i.e. the aforementioned Dennis.

With three laps to go before the end of the race, the leader changed again: Rowland now took the lead, but not for long, as he was again overtaken by da Costa. But Vergne’s car had a damaged front wing and although the Frenchman continued to run third, it was clear his position was vulnerable. But Jean-Eric managed to position the car very correctly on the track and did not let Dennis overtake, although he made several attempts.

Antonio Felix da Costa started the final lap as the leader and his car had slightly more energy in its batteries than Oliver Rowland, who was chasing him. This allowed him to defend his position quite effectively, although the British literally attacked him until the last turn. And yet the 2020 Formula E champion was the first to cross the finish line and take a very important victory.

The fact is that to this day the Portuguese was not even in the top ten of the individual rankings, and there is already talk that Porsche could decide to replace him, and a candidate has even already been found – it reportedly organized team secret tests for Swiss Nico Muller, currently competing for Mahindra.

But now da Costa has proven that it is too early to write him off, and the victory he has brought to his team will undoubtedly play a role.

Today’s podium was Rowland’s fourth in a row, allowing him to take the lead in the individual standings. Dennis moved up to second place in the World Championship and finished third, but still managed to stay ahead of Vergne, who ultimately only managed 7th place. The progress of the Andretti driver, who started 17th, proves once again that very impressive results can be achieved with the right tactics and an efficient car.

By the way, da Costa, the race winner, is now in 7th place in the championship, and if he progresses at this pace, he will gradually approach the leaders, and he will not have to worry about his further cooperation with Porsche. The second race of the weekend takes place on Sunday in Misano, which could also cause serious adjustments to the balance of power, and most likely it will be as unpredictable as today’s.