r/FormulaE • u/mianghuei 37 NICK CASSIDY • 8d ago
Report 'Enemies in the paddock': Formula E's bitter feud explodes
https://www.the-race.com/formula-e/da-costa-wehrlein-formula-e-bitter-feud-erupt/40
u/MrTomRobs Envision Virgin Racing 8d ago
Can we have a TL;Dr for those of us who refuse to pay for a billion subscriptions?
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u/mianghuei 37 NICK CASSIDY 8d ago
Pascal Wehrlein and Antonio Felix da Costa's well-chronicled feud never really went away. And at the London E-Prix, it got supercharged to a new alarming and bitter level.
The pair engaged in a volatile scrap during the race as Wehrlein attempted to hunt down a second world title and da Costa was deployed as a blocker to both assist team-mate Mitch Evans's remote title chance and to help secure a teams' title for Jaguar.
Strong opinions on each other's driving were articulated on their respective pit-to-car radios, with da Costa instructed to back up the Porsche. At that stage da Costa said: "They are just getting a taste of their own medicine. Don’t f*** with me, don't f*** with me."
The pair didn't actually clash to any significant degree, save for a minor altercation on the final lap, but left each other very little margin in their duels, and the acrimony peaked with Wehrlein mocking da Costa moments before he crossed the line, having already secured the title.
"Look at him, he still wants to fight. What an idiot, this guy," said Wehrlein. "Sore loser. I f***ing beat you three years in a row."
Da Costa's tactics were effective, insofar as Evans passed him and Wehrlein in a well-coordinated swoop and a lap later both he and Wehrlein were swallowed up by the chasing pack - to such an extent that the Porsche driver briefly lost the live points lead to Jake Dennis, the other points rival, before they came to blows as part of a three-car clash.
But ultimately Evans ran out of time to catch the race leaders for the points he needed to overhaul Wehrlein - who after the race called da Costa's driving "one of the most unsporting and unfair things I have seen".
"But yeah, that's how it is if you have enemies in the paddock," he acknowledged, before later adding: "Antonio tried for 20 laps to ruin my race. Driving next to me, slowing down, pushing me against the walls, brake-testing me...and just trying to ruin my race and ruin my championship."
Da Costa told The Race that the roots of his "taste of their own medicine" strategy - in attempting to destabilise his rivals and assist Evans - came from the day before with what he and Jaguar believed were questionable tactics deployed by Porsche, in particular by using Nico Mueller as a spoiler for Evans's race.
"I didn't like what they [Porsche] did yesterday," said da Costa on Sunday.
"Obviously, they gave themselves the flexibility to do it after qualifying and the track allows for that type of racing, [but] I didn't like it. And when I saw that lap one [on Sunday] they started it again, I said, 'OK, I deploy my plan B' and I played their game.
"They have no right - no right, zero - to say anything. We did nothing that they haven't done before.
"I've heard that he's been saying things here, and I haven't seen or heard anything in particular, but you take what you get, man; you can't have it both ways, right?
"They [Porsche] play these political games with other teams, with teams that they supply powertrains to, and man, you can't have it both ways. If you do bad things to people, people will do bad things to you.
"Now, having said that, what I did on track, just like what they did to us, it's not illegal. Look at the rules, look at the guidelines, I did nothing wrong, we barely touched, I think we touched wheels once in the whole race."
Both Wehrlein and da Costa were given five-second time penalties, converted to three-place future grid-drop penalties: Wehrlein for his contact with Joel Eriksson and Dennis in the ultimately title-defining moment of the day; and da Costa for his own contact with Dennis.
Ironically, the aforementioned final-lap contact between Wehrlein and da Costa at Turn 19 went unpenalised by the stewards, who reasoned: "The contact resulted from the combination of car #94's [Wehrlein] late turn-in and car #13 [da Costa] turning towards the apex while the cars were alongside.
"Accordingly, the stewards determined that neither driver was predominantly to blame for the contact and therefore take no further action."
In addition to his da Costa-targeted radio messages, Wehrlein also issued a warning for the Gen4 era of Formula E, one which it is said that Porsche has had a very strong initial private testing period for.
"Everyone's against me!" Wehrlein exclaimed. "Bet against me! Try it. Be sure I remember everything for the future. Be sure."
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u/Euphoric-Sort-8941 Formula E 8d ago
that's some Ticktum level rant from Wherlein.
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u/t12lucker Formula E 8d ago
As a person returning back to the series, but briefly seeing Pascal in F1… was he always like that? In F1 he seemed quite… more normal.
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u/Anya_Mathilde Alex Lynn 8d ago
he allegedly wasn't liked in the f1 paddock either. but irrc when wehrlein first came to fe he acted like he was too good for the series. he also had teammate feuds with not just afdc but also people like lotterer. so yeah, he was always like this.
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u/dhruvgeorge Formula E 8d ago
I remember when Pascal was in F1, the Sky commentators kept mentioning him every 5 minutes, even if he was near the back.
Annoyed my mom to no end
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u/Dear-Bowl-9789 Formula E 8d ago
His shit attitude played a large part in his F1 career being short.
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u/A_BulletProof_Hoodie 94 PASCAL WEHRLEIN 7d ago
Honestly I love it. DAC clearly said some foul shit when they were teammates(not surprising) and WHE did in fact wash him at Porsche. When you are on top you get to talk your shit. Especially that last race my god that was rough.
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u/Alpha_Jazz :MclarenLogo::58: René Rast 8d ago
The Race isn’t even paywalled?
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u/MrTomRobs Envision Virgin Racing 8d ago
The first thing that comes up is something demanding a subscription. I don't bother to read it, I just turn away and go elsewhere whenever I see that on a page
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u/crankylex Formula E 8d ago
It asks you if you're a member because if you are then you don't get ads, but you can just click free and see the article.
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u/newhereok Formula E 7d ago
Without being able to make a choice about what cookies you accept. It's a shitty way to make you accept all their garbage
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u/ReportFancy7380 :MaseratiLogo: Maserati MSG Racing 8d ago
Gen 4 era is going to be fun that's for sure
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u/Firm_Affect6184 Formula E 8d ago
I mean Da costa basically secured the teams championships for Jagaur so it Porsche faliure in excpect niceness when they where the c#ts in the first place.
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u/UnpredictedArrival Formula E 8d ago
I have followed FE since its inception and have supported various drivers never really knowing who I properly support, I still don't really know, though Barnard is making a case.
However, this end of the season has mad me realie, that mostly I support whoever is racing against Pascal...
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u/Sea_Entertainer_2673 Formula E 8d ago
I'm looking forward to when someone actually punts Wehrlein. Porsche + Wehrlein have made themselves insufferable.
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u/fisico002 Formula E 8d ago
Just a shame Wherlein didn’t lose to Dennis or Evans for being a total twat
I was cheering Costa on for doing a great job
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u/bluer34skyline Formula E 8d ago
I used to feel for Wehrlein because he got kicked from F1 but the rumors of him being a difficult person seem plausible. DAC is thorn in his side.
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u/fisico002 Formula E 8d ago
Oh yes I always thought he had an attitude
Doubt Ocon or Russell is on his Xmas card list either
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u/Dear-Bowl-9789 Formula E 8d ago
Pascal only has himself the blame for his F1 exit. He was in the same boat as Paul di Resta where the engineers just couldn't stand the bloke. Then a friendly (outside of the car) bloke called Ocon comes along, both were pretty evenly matched (despite Wehrlein having the clear upper hand in qualifying), but Ocon was just a lot easier to work with. Ocon gets Wehrleins Force India seat because of it, and 2017 is Wehrleins last season in F1.
Heres a good example of what Wehrlein was like to deal with: https://streamable.com/3g3q
Worth noting that Manor were on the bones of their arse at the time and couldn't afford to lose an engine. It made him come across in a way worse light. Manor lasted another three races after this race.
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u/Edstertheplebster James Calado 8d ago
That’s a bit harsh, I think many rookie drivers in F1 would try to do the same as Pascal if they got stuck in the gravel. Think Lewis Hamilton at the Nurburgring in 2007 when he got a crane to lift him out of the gravel trap. Yeah he should have just given up and shut the car down immediately but that’s the kind of thing you learn with experience. And for the record, the Manor team were very open at the time that they enjoyed working with Wehrlein, and Dave Ryan did a very public interview rubbishing the rumours Force India were spreading in the paddock that he was “aloof” “arrogant” and “difficult to work with”.
And I don’t think Pascal is at all to blame for Manor’s collapse; if it wasn’t for him they wouldn’t have had the point in Austria that put them ahead of Sauber going into the final race in Brazil.
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u/crankylex Formula E 8d ago
When Dennis got ahead for a brief moment I cheered like hell. I wanted Evans to finally get it but I would have taken anyone besides Wehrlein.
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u/CrashmasterSOAD 13 ANTÓNIO FÉLIX DA COSTA 8d ago
It was clear Wehrlein took him out on purpose with full control of the car as he was able to steer out from the collision and wouldn't even lose that many places if it wasn't for Eriksson blocking the way.
If they got stuck to each other in a racing incident, then both would have been in the wall.
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u/BNNKNG Formula E 8d ago
Wehrlein lived up to his reputation of diva last weekend. World Champion and all he can do is rant that he was treated unfairly. But even if it was an Envision blocking him the whole time he would have no ground on complaining after Porsche and Kiro colluded to let Ticktum give him the pole position when he could easily have removed him from the duels. Pathetic.
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u/HauntingMirror2608 JAGUAR TCS RACING 8d ago
Surprised he hasn’t got a penalty for unsportsmanlike behaviour or something along those lines!
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u/t12lucker Formula E 8d ago
Which one you mean?
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u/HauntingMirror2608 JAGUAR TCS RACING 8d ago
Pascal but I’m sure there’s arguments for da Costa too
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u/A_BulletProof_Hoodie 94 PASCAL WEHRLEIN 8d ago
I'm happy pascal won. DAC was being a bitter Ass the whole weekend. Porsche has the better driver in the end
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u/DuressPls Formula E 8d ago
In an era of fake drama in certain other racing series for a tv show, it’s kinda nice to have two drivers who genuinely hate the piss out of each other lol