Why Formula E can be the remaking of a driver | DriveTribe

I was amazed at the candour JEV, Sam and Ant gave me for this one – about coming from career nadirs and recovering in the high-stress, high-difficulty Formula E.

When the series first began, it was considered a surefire failure by a lot of people. And the drivers entering were considered idiots, greedy or desperate – depending on their previous racing record, their pay check or the recency of them getting publicly insulted by Helmut Marko.

I asked one of the third category, now two-time race winner and BMW factory driver Antonio Felix da Costa, what he thought of the series then: “When I touched a Formula E car for the first time I wasn’t convinced. But I was going through a really hard time in my life – I’d just lost out on my Toro Rosso seat, which had felt like a sure thing at the time so I was a bit frustrated. I had a test in a Formula E car and I just thought ‘****, I’m only going downhill from now.’”