Antonio Felix da Costa talks Formula E and electric scooters
Portugal born 29-year-old Antonio Felix da Costa is currently the reigning champion of the ABB FIA Formula E World Championship. Antonio has been with the open-wheeled electric racing league since its inaugural season in 2014.
At the recent announcement of electric scooter-manufacturer NIU and da Costa partnership announcing a new partnership, Antonio had this to say:
“It has been a long journey with ups and downs. I am lucky to have a strong group of people behind me which never let me walk alone. In 2014 I had my F1 seat signed, and it was hard to lose from one second to another. I had to get my head up, and I kept working hard to get to where I am now. It was never easy but this is what makes the sport so interesting. Never give up!
“I consider myself really lucky to have driven almost every racing car in the world in my career. I really appreciate the team work and spirit in this sport and I always try to make the best of everything. I enjoy every day at work and for me, I do it for the love of it more than anything.”
“I always worked hard to reach this title and the last couple of years were not easy. I had to sacrifice a lot in some areas to get to a position of being in a top team. Sometimes it was not easy to be fighting for the last positions of the grid, but I knew that if I did a good job my opportunity would come.
“It was very emotional for me to win the title and also very good to share with my team and all the Portuguese fans this amazing achievement.
“I think all races were very competitive and all my wins were just as different, but for sure Berlin was key to get the title. After 5 months in full lockdown I did everything that I could to get ready for the final battle. I knew that the first few races in Berlin were crucial.
“The fact that we are racing in the heart of the most iconic cities of the world is amazing. Also, the fact that we race in 0 pollution is definitely something special to know that we are part of this new era, and we are generating a better world for the future generations. In a couple of years people will watch Formula E and will remember my name as one of the ambassadors of this new electric championship.”
Antonio is certainly a fan of FanBoost after benefiting from it heavily last season.
As he explained:
“Fanboost is basically a competition where people can take part and vote for their favorite driver. In the end the top 5 most voted drivers will be awarded an extra boost during the race. This makes a massive interaction between the fans and the drivers, and it was very special to win the FanBoost in every single race last season.”
Antonio explained how he came into the new partnership with NIU:
“When I first took my driving license I was quite competitive on the road, but I realized that’s not the way to go after a few months. I am really just a normal driver on the road trying to respect people and always put safety as my number 1 rule.
Being a NIU owner now and driving a smart electric scooter by joining the #niucrew is the best way to kick off this 2021 year. I can now drive to the beach on my NIU and also drive around Cascais on my new scooter.
View this post on Instagram
The best part of it is that I am doing something that I love in my city and at the same time doing my part to turn the world into a better place. I am really excited about launching a partnership with NIU especially because me and NIU share exactly the same ideas and mentality.”
“I think we are definitely taking an important role on the future of urban mobility and the fact that we race in city centers is obviously giving people the right example on that. I also feel that a lot of aspects that we develop on our Formula E car are used on the DS road cars and this is giving me a lot of pleasure to see how fast electric mobility is growing in the last few years.
I can’t wait to kick off the new season. I want to defend my title and fight for another one. I am sure it won’t be easy as the competition is always very strong, but we will work hard to get it. To my fans I can promise full dedication and commitment to fight for the world title and I hope I can count with their constant support to fight for it.”