Following an incident in last Saturday’s 15th round of the 2022/23 Formula E World Championship, Porsche have confirmed that they are appealing a penalty given to António Félix da Costa.
In the penultimate round of the championship at the London E-Prix last Saturday, Da Costa was slapped with a huge three-minute time penalty. The penalty was dished out by the FIA after one of his tyres was below the minimum legal tyre pressure; however, this was due to a slow puncture the team had already informed the FIA’s technical delegate about.
Da Costa had a slow puncture in the closing laps at the ExCeL Centre after hitting one of the many pieces of debris scattered across the circuit, following a series of incidents.
During a red flag stoppage late in the race, Da Costa and Porsche reportedly informed the FIA about the slow puncture, but were given the all-clear to continue in the race with the same tyre. Moments later, it was confirmed that the season six Champion had an unbelievable time penalty.
The penalty demoted Da Costa from second to last, unsurprisingly. Da Costa was seething after the race and slammed the FIA’s “inconsistency”, before calling for “common sense” to prevail.
Da Costa had confirmed in the media pen after Saturday’s race that Porsche would appeal, something they had 96 hours to do. The German manufacturer have now officially appealed the penalty, meaning the case will go to the FIA’s Court of Appeal. The expectation is that a decision won’t be made for several weeks.
Should Da Costa’s second place finish get reinstated, then Porsche will move above customer team Avalanche Andretti in the Constructors’ Championship and into third spot.
Porsche’s statement Thursday morning read: “Today we can confirm that the official appeal against decision No. 10 was filed within the deadline.
“Antonio suffered a slow puncture due to debris on the track, which meant that the pressure from his front right tyre fell below the prescribed minimum. The damage occurred due to an external impact; it was not our fault. For us, this decision is incomprehensible and unacceptable. Our primary concern is a fair equal treatment in the spirit of the sport.
“Due to the ongoing proceedings, we will not make any further statements on this incident until a final decision is made by the ICA (International Court of Appeal).”
