Da Costa: FIA must "find another way" other than disqualifying cars post-race

The Portuguese driver was stripped of his win in the inaugural Misano E-Prix earlier this month after his Porsche car failed post-race checks.

This was after FIA scrutineers found an ineligible throttle damper setting related to the spring was fitted to the car.

The part in question had been previously used on the Gen2 machines but its inclusion in the “GEN3 Spark Catalogue” was removed when the new car was introduced for the 2022-23 season.

Porsche admitted that the spring had been used on the car since the start of the Gen3 era as only the addition of new parts was highlighted in the catalogue, not if they had been removed.

Ahead of the Monaco E-Prix this weekend, da Costa believes that such a decision hours after the race is not good for the championship and is difficult to explain to fans when the outcome of the result has changed.

“There is no performance advantage, it’s literally a serial number mistake,” da Costa told Autosport.

“Let’s find another way, just for the good of everyone and everything.

“Obviously on my side, it hurts because I thought it was a well-executed race, I was super cautious, I did the right things at the right times. Won the race from 13th and then your points are gone.

Antonio Felix da Costa, Porsche, Porsche 99X Electric Gen3

Photo by: Simon Galloway / Motorsport Images

“It was also a great opportunity for us to relaunch the championship, I would have been about fifth or sixth now and maybe 20-30 points away. Now I’m 69 points away.

“We should be doing these penalties better just for the good of the sport, I think.

He added: “Try explaining to someone how I lost the win [to fans], it’s impossible. People don’t understand.”

Immediately after the disqualification was announced, Porsche lodged an intent to appeal the decision, giving the German manufacturer 96 hours to decide whether to take further action.

Ahead of the deadline last week, the team confirmed it would be appealing the decision with a hearing now due to take place in early June to determine if da Costa will be reinstated.

“It’s a sign that the points are as important for me as they are for the team,” he added.

“It’s a sign they want to be on the offensive and get these points back. And I really do believe we are in the right.

“I’m not a cheater, nobody here is a cheater, I don’t like cheaters and if there was a performance advantage, I would be the first one to say, ‘that’s it, we are correctly out of the race’, but that’s not the case. Let’s see where it leads.”