Success in this season’s truncated ABB FIA Formula E championship has not been diminished because of the shortened campaign.
That is the opinion of new champion Antonio Felix da Costa and his team principal Mark Preston after DS Techeetah completed a second consecutive double titles success with two rounds to spare.
This season championship is not actually the shortest contested, as the 2015-16 schedule had just 10 rounds on it, including a double-header finale at Battersea Park, London.
The present championship was meant to be contested over 14 races at 11 venues but the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic enforced a long suspension and then a nine-day conclusion with six races at Tempelhof.
Formula E needs to have at least six events for a final standings to be legitimised, according to the FIA sporting regulations.
Additionally, Formula E also has commercial agreements with partners in place which stipulate a minimum of 11 races per season.
Da Costa told The Race that he feels the achievements have not been particularly diminished, while Preston says that in some ways it could be viewed as an even more laudable achievement.
“I did say publicly a few times that I don’t want to win it after just five races and then no more staged,” said da Costa.
“I know that contractually, the winner would not have been awarded the championship really of that but let’s say I would have been awarded with a championship after Marrakesh, well, I don’t want to take it this way, for sure.
“But we have had at least something that feels like a season, even if it was broken up.”
Da Costa also described how he felt as prepared as he had ever been heading into races.
“I knew there was a risk in coming racing again, a lot of a lot of guys look super competitive and on the rise as well, like the newer teams Porsche and Mercedes,” he said.
“I thought there was a big risk in coming racing again, or it was going to be super tough. But the way we the way we prepped ourselves to come here blew my mind, I knew these guys were good, but the effort they put down was phenomenal.
“I said to my Dad before I came to Berlin, ‘I have never ever felt so prepared for a race like I do now’.”
Da Costa’s team principal at DS Techeetah, Mark Preston, agreed with his second champion saying that winning is “all the record books will remember.”
“Yes, it’s a shorter championship but in a way it’s been just as, if not more, challenging because of what’s been going on in the world,” reckons Preston.
“It has tested everyone in ways not previously anticipated.
“Coming here to Berlin, we were quite worried that we weren’t going to be on top of it all enough. That really spurred us on because we’ve been beaten quite a few times here in Berlin in the past.
“But as it turns out, all that hard work has paid off and we’ve taken more wins here than any other team has all season, which is satisfying.”
