António Félix da Costa

At 32 years old, António Félix da Costa has this physical status:

António Maria de Mello Breyner Félix da Costa (born 31 August 1991) is a Portuguese professional racing driver and a DS Techeetah pilot. He is perhaps best known for winning the Macau Grand Prix invitational Formula Three race in 2012 and 2016, as well as the Formula Renault 2.0 Northern European Cup in 2009.

He is the younger half-brother of Duarte Félix da Costa, who also works as a racing driver and primarily competes in sportscar racing. Félix da Costa's breakthrough year came during the 2012 season after progressing through various levels of the junior formulae motorsport ladder.

Félix da Costa, the Carlin team's season-long champion, was chosen to join the Red Bull Junior Team, replacing Formula Renault 3.5 Series driver Lewis Williamson, who had failed to score a single point in the first three meetings of the season.

Félix da Costa started Williamson's tenure with the Arden Caterham team, where he eventually won four of the final five races in the season en route to fourth position in the final championship standings, just 23 points behind eventual champion Robin Frijns.

Félix da Costa completed the 2013 season by joining the Arden Caterham team in Abu Dhabi for the Young Drivers' competition – Félix da Costa's second time at the test, after working with Force India in 2010 – with Félix da Costa dictating the pace.

He won the Macau Grand Prix for the first time in 58 years, leading every racing lap of the contest en route to victory.

Personal life

Da Costa, a racer, likes surfing. He speaks Portuguese, Spanish, French, English, and Italian.

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Career

Félix da Costa, a native of Cascais, began his karting career at the age of nine. Félix da Costa won the Portuguese Championship and the Portuguese Karting Open in 2002 and 2003, before winning the South Portuguese Championship in 2003. Félix da Costa was born in 2004 and rose to the ICA-J class, but he had to wait until 2006 to win his first title, the Portuguese Championship. With a runner-up finish in the World Series Karting Championship and a third in the Italian Open Masters, 2006 was the year in which he also had solid results in European karting events. In the newly renamed KF2 category, together with Will Stevens, Félix da Costa became a registered factory driver for the legendary Italian Tony Kart team in 2007. His best performances in the Asia-Pacific Championship and runner-up in the South-Garda Winter Cup were fourth and fifth.

In 2008, Félix da Costa began competing in Formula Renault's Eurocup and Northern European championships. After starting from third on the grid, he came third in his first appearance in the NEC at Hockenheim. Unlike his colleagues, Félix da Costa won his first NEC victory at Oschersleben, rather than the Eurocup, while the majority of his opponents were playing in the Eurocup round at the Hungaroring. He finished the season as the runner-up in the championship, 86 points behind Bottas, who won twelve of the season's sixteen races, and as a reward, Félix da Costa tested a Formula Renault 3.5 Series car with the P1 Motorsport team at Paul Ricard. Félix da Costa won six Eurocup races this season, finishing fourth at Estoril en route to thirteenth place in the championship, with five points-scoring finishes in total. During the 2008–09 A1 Grand Prix season, Félix da Costa rode as a rookie racer for A1 Team Portugal.

Félix da Costa became a title contender in both the Eurocup and NEC Formula Renault series, with Bottas, Hegewald, Daniel Ricciardo, Roberto Merhi, and others advancing to Formula Two or Formula Three. Félix da Costa trimmed up the NEC field, following Bottas' example of 2008 by dominating the NEC field and winning the NEC championship. Félix da Costa's Eurocup campaign was based on consistency, with the top five in the first seven races. He fought the sequence until the rounds at Nürburgring, where he appealed a technical error in Super Pole. Félix da Costa dominated the first race at the brand new Ciudad del Motor de Aragón circuit, winning from his first series pole position and also recording the fastest lap along the way. He completed the double the following day, but Jean-Éric Vergne finished second in the championship, but on a tie-breaker, he fell out on second place.

Félix da Costa stepped up to the Formula 3 Euro Series for the 2010 season, joining Motopark Academy. Félix da Costa made a point on his debut at Le Castellet on his debut in the series' reverse-grid system, securing him pole position for the second race. In the Saturday races in Hockenheim, Valencia, the Norisring, and the Nürburgring, he came in third place, earning him more points-scoring finishes. After passing pole-sitter Jim Pla at the start of the competition, Félix da Costa became the first Portuguese driver to win a race in the series. Félix da Costa won more at each of the following two meetings in Zandvoort and Brands Hatch, his eighth position, and he began the Sunday races from pole position to finish; he had placed himself in eighth position.

He placed third in third place at Oschersleben, finishing third in a final championship appearance and being a top-placed rookie. He also competed in his first Macau Grand Prix at the end of the season, joining Carlin for the occasion. Félix da Costa led the way in qualifying for his 13th fastest time in qualifying, to a sixth-place finish in the main 15-lap competition. Félix da Costa took part in the Formula One Young Drivers' Test in Abu Dhabi for Force India ahead of the festival. Félix da Costa ran in the third fastest time on the first day of the season, clocking in 77 laps.

Félix da Costa battled two meetings of the British Formula Three Championship for Hitech Racing in 2011, replacing Max Snegirev in one of the team's cars. During July, he competed in the Formula 3 Euro Series at Nürburgring and Paul Ricard, as he had competed at least once in the sport. He finished second in the final race at Nürburgring, finishing second behind Felipe Nasr after a last-lap pass on Carlos Huertas, while at Paul Ricard, finishing second in race one and third in second. He finished in thirteenth place in the championship, tied on points with Riki Christodoulou, another one of the team's pilots. Hitech Racing for Macau, where he began from the front row for the qualifying race, but stalled on the grid at the start of the season, with gearbox issues. Due to a wheel issue, he was forced to withdraw from the main race.

Due to the introduction of Dallara's latest F312, drivers had to participate in any Formula Three championship race during the calendar year rather than an FIA-controlled championship meeting like previous years. As a result, Félix da Costa was forced to compete in the MotorSport Vision Formula Three Cup, a second-tier Formula Three series in the United Kingdom, in its season-ending round at Snetterton due to commitments in other series. Félix da Costa won both races by a minute and almost 40 seconds, while the second race was won by almost a minute. Félix da Costa, a team from Macau, set the fastest time during the first qualifying session on Thursday, but after Alex Lynn improved on his time during the second session on Friday, he had to start second on the grid. Lynn got off to a sluggish start in the qualification race, and Félix da Costa was momentarily passed by Felix Rosenqvist before he returned to Lisboa on lap one, under braking for Lisboa. He held the lead until the end and took pole position in the main race. Rosenqvist continued his qualifying race run in the Grand Prix, but Félix da Costa retook the lead at Lisboa on lap one once more. Félix da Costa stayed ahead until the end to become the first Portuguese winner of the Grand Prix after Eduardo de Carvalho won the inaugural event in 1954. It was also Carlin's first victory in the race since 2001, when Takuma Sato won the tournament.

Félix da Costa made his GP3 debut in 2010 during the series's inaugural season, replacing Lucas Foresti at the Carlin team for the rounds at the Hungaroring and Spa-Francorchamps. This was due to Foresti's simultaneous participation in the British Formula Three Championships, and the GP3 meetings clashed with Formula Three races at Spa-Francorchamps and Snetterton. Félix da Costa's first run in sixth place, but this was to be his only points-scoring finish, and he ended the season 26th in the drivers' championship standings.

Félix da Costa entered the sport on a full time basis in 2011, partnering with former Formula Three rival Alexander Sims and Ivan Lukashevich. In both races at the season-opening event in Istanbul Park, where he finished in fifth place and fourth place respectively. After these finishes, Félix da Costa went on a run of nine races without a points finish, with his ninth place at Silverstone his highest finish of the barren period. At the Hungaroring, this was the end of a sixth-place finish, bringing the total count to a point. He failed to finish in Spa-Francorchamps until his seventh-place finish in the first race at Monza, where he moved up the order from 14th on the grid. Starting alongside Mitch Evans in the final race of the season, Félix da Costa gained a top-three finish for the majority of the season, and when Evans and James Calado collided with three laps remaining, he continued to win, claiming the race lead. He maintained the lead until the end of the race, despite Rio Haryanto winning his first GP3 victory by 0.8 seconds; the victory also led him to finish thirteenth in the final drivers' championship standings. Félix da Costa took home the non-championship GP2 Final in Abu Dhabi for Ocean Racing Technology, placing seventh and thirteenth places respectively.

Félix da Costa remained in the series for 2012, and he rejoined the Carlin team, teaming British drivers Alex Brundle and William Buller. Félix da Costa qualified in the first round of the season in Barcelona by 0.1 seconds, ahead of Lotus GP teammates Conor Daly and Aaro Vainio. As a result, Félix da Costa jumped off the start of the contest and was given a drive-through penalty. He finished the race in fourteenth place before finishing in seventh place in the weekend's other event. He came in seventh in Monaco's first run, placing him in second place for the second race of the weekend. He stayed in that spot throughout the season, leading Marlon Stöckinger across the line for his first podium appearance of the season.

Because of a technological glitch, Félix da Costa was barred from qualifying at Valencia, requiring him to begin the first race from the back of the grid. On the second lap, he pulled out of the competition after an encounter with Dmitry Suranovich; he was later found guilty of causing an avoidable accident and was given a ten-place grid penalty for the second race, requiring him to restart at the back of the race for the second time. Félix da Costa went from 24th to 8th in the course of the 14-lap event, the fastest lap of the season in the process. He came in third at Silverstone, but Félix da Costa managed to pass Vainio off the line and Mitch Evans shortly after the first lap, and Mitch Evans was halted early in the wet weather that race one was held in. He took the lead from the remainder of the season to win his first game of the season. In the weekend's second round, he came in fifth, putting him in third place in the drivers' championship.

Félix da Costa won his second game of the season at the Hungaroring after a double retirement at Hockenheim. Félix da Costa, the second in second place in the championship, managed to fight Evans at the start of the campaign and then pulled away from his opponents. Evans was later defeated by Lotus GP's Daniel Abt, but Félix da Costa maintained a four-second lead over them both and remained largely unchanged until the end. Félix da Costa took eighth place for the second race with the reverse-grid system, which was kept in drying weather. He had risen to fifth place on wet tyres before making a pit stop for dry tyres. At one point during the series, Félix da Costa was sailing some ten seconds faster than race leaders Matias Laine and Vainio, surprisingly making his way through the order. With three laps remaining, he leapt into the lead and then won the contest, becoming the first GP3 racer to win both races in a series of races in a race weekend by almost twelve seconds from Patric Niederhauser. Félix da Costa finished second in both races in second place at Spa-Francorchamps, 21.5 points behind championship leader Evans. However, after a mysterious electronic glitch in the car that had him to stop running, he eventually finished in third place in the final drivers' championship standings, despite losing and second in the meeting.

Félix da Costa was chosen to join the Red Bull Junior Team midway through the 2012 season, replacing Formula Renault 3.5 Series driver Lewis Williamson, who had yet to score a single point in the first three meetings of the season. Félix da Costa was selected to replace Williamson at the Arden Caterham squad, with Alexander Rossi at the team, ahead of the fourth round of the season. Félix da Costa finished ninth in his debut in the sport, earning two points towards the championship. Félix da Costa finished in seventh position for the series's first-ever race at the track, out-qualifying Rossi by almost three tenths of a second. He passed Nico Müller at the start of the race and was able to take sixth position in the first half of the competition before being demoted by Kevin Korjus. Félix da Costa ranked seventh until the end of the season, finishing fifth in the weekend's second race.

Félix da Costa, a Canadian-born boy, ran for his best finish in the series's attritional opening event in which only eleven of the race's twenty-six starters were named. He also ran the fastest lap of the season as he avoided all of the incidents that befell other drivers. Félix da Costa earned his first podium finish the next day, turning a ninth place grid grid start into a second-place finish. He came in fourth place in the first round at the Hungaroring before winning a final-lap victory – his first in the series – during the second race, after an engine failure had eliminated race leader Kevin Magnussen. Félix da Costa maintained his good form into the following match at Le Castellet, winning a rain-affected first round from his sixth position in the event. Félix da Costa placed seventh in the second race of the weekend, which was held in similar conditions as the first. He had lead by lap six, having passed Jules Bianchi for the position; Bianchi later regained the advantage in the mandatory pit-stop phase and then went on to win from Félix da Costa.

Félix da Costa won the first race in Catalunya after defeating championship contender Sam Bird eight laps from the end, while Félix da Costa's final race of the season was another outstanding wet-weather effort, winning by almost 28 seconds. Despite missing the first five races of the season, Félix da Costa finished fourth in the drivers' championship, losing by 23 points to Robin Frijns. Following his successes in both GP3 and Formula Renault 3.5, Félix da Costa was invited to test with the Red Bull Racing Formula One team at Young Drivers' Test in Abu Dhabi. He tested for two of the planned three days, finishing in second place on the first day – to Magnussen, driving for McLaren – before he established the time-sheets on day two, posting a time half a second faster than the next best driver, Oliver Turvey.

Félix da Costa, a Portuguese newspaper, revealed in an interview with Portuguese newspaper Diário de Notcias in September 2012 that he was looking for a full-time seat in the Formula Renault 3.5 Series for the 2013 season. Félix da Costa will remain with the Arden Caterham team with whom he competed in the series earlier this season, according to the team's founder on January 9, 2013. The 2012 champion Robin Frijns had tipped Félix da Costa and Kevin Magnussen to be one of the year's top championship candidates.

Félix da Costa debuted in the 2014 Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters series with BMW MTEK's Timo Glock, a German competitor. He earned points on two occasions during the season's 21st appearance with a total of six points. He was put on hold for the 2015 season.

Félix da Costa joined BMW Team Schnitzer in 2015, teaming Martin Tomczyk. He did not score a single point until race seven at Zandvoort, where he earned his first podium appearance and finished in second place. He won his first DTM victory in his second race of the weekend. He had been ranked eighth in points, but at the end of the season, he ended seventh in eighth, but ended up finishing eleventh.

da Costa competed in the inaugural Formula E season for Team Aguri in rounds that did not conflict with his DTM obligations. During his time in the championship, he competed alongside Katherine Legge and Salvador Durán. After coming up through the field from eighth, the 2015 Buenos Aires ePrix saw da Costa win his first game of the season. He had one non-point finish at the 2015 Berlin ePrix, where he finished in 11th place. Da Costa had 51 points and climbed to eighth position in the standings at the end of the season.

Da Costa stayed with Team Aguri during the 2015-2016 Formula E season, as well as Nathanal Berthon, Salvador Durán, and Ma Qinghua. Sadly, he had several good races cut away from him due to unreliability. He competed alongside Nathanal Berthon in the first three races of the season before the French driver was dropped in favour of season 1 driver Salvador Durán, who himself was replaced by Ma Qinghua just 3 races later. Da Costa was unable to compete in the 2016 Berlin ePrix and was replaced by René Rast for the event, but he would return for the double header in London to end the season. At Putrajaya, Punta del Este, and London(1), Costa's best finish of the season came in 6th position, which he won three times. He was running in the podium positions before the car suffered mechanically, effectively throwing him out of the competition. He was supposed to win back to back at the track, but a safety cap piece took him out of the competition last time. Poor fortune could have dogged the Portuguese driver at the 2016 Long Beach ePrix after he claimed a spectacular pole position but then had to be disqualified due to his right rear tyre pressure being 0.33 percent below average. Da Costa's fourth place at the London ePrix for race 2nd came after finishing him off on 9th, only to receive a point for using too much power, reducing his ranking to 11th. Even though he was dealt with so much bad luck, Motorsport.com ranked him 4th overall in the top ten drivers of the season.

Da Costa announced on July 3 that he will leave Team Aguri for season 3, but that he will remain in Formula E with another team. He was later confirmed as racing alongside Robin Frijns at Andretti.

Da Costa stayed with Andretti for the 2017-18 season.

Andretti's da Costa was retained by Andretti for the 2018-19 season, alongside Alexander Sims. In the 2018 Ad Diriyah ePrix, the first race of the season for BMW after three seasons without podiums, he took pole position and won. He was leading the race in the second round of the 2019 Marrakesh ePrix before his match with his teammate Sims, which culminated in his disqualification of the sport.

In 2019, da Costa descended on Andretti and joined Team DS Techeetah's Champion of the Season Jean-Éric Vergne, finishing second, behind Maximilian Günther in second place. He came in second, second behind Mitch Evans in Mexico. In Marrakesh, Costa's first victory for DS Techeetah was the third highest winning margin in Formula E history (11.427 seconds).

Following the global COVID-19 pandemic, da Costa put in a series of strong shows at the Berlin Templehof Circuit, winning two titles and a podium to seal the Drivers' crown, while also winning the Constructors' Championship for DS Techeetah with two races remaining. President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa granted the Order of Merit as a result of his success in the season.

For the 2020–21 season, da Costa and Jean-Éric Vergne partnered in DS Techeetah alongside Jean-Éric Vergne.

da Costa spent 2021–22 seasons with DS Techeetah, first partnering Jean-Éric Vergne.

Da Costa, a three-year engineer at DS Techeetah, has joined Porsche for the 2022–23 season, replacing André Lotterer and partnering Pascal Wehrlein.

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