The case surrounding the disqualification of Misano winner Antonio Felix da Costa is not coming to an end. As planned, following the appeal by Porsche’s Formula E team against the Portuguese driver’s exclusion, the hearing before the International Court of Appeal was held yesterday, Friday, June 7, 2024, at the FIA’s Paris headquarters on the Place de la Concorde.
But according to information from Motorsport-Magazin.com Surprisingly, there was no verdict from circles of the International Automobile Federation (FIA) and Porsche for reasons that are still unknown. At the last Porsche hearing regarding the season finale in London in November 2023, for example, the verdict came on the same day.
Upon request from Motorsport-Magazin.com Porsche Motorsport gave us the following statement: “The Court of Appeal heard the parties but did not make a decision. This is expected to follow in the next few weeks.”
This is what the Porsche trial is about
The FIA stewards’ decision was based on a spring on the accelerator pedal of Felix da Costa’s 99X, which was made by the standard component manufacturer Spark Racing Technology. However, this had not been on the Spark parts list for some time and therefore should not have been installed in the Porsche racing car.
What a lack of parts at the beginning of the Gen3 era has to do with disqualification
“We had an accelerator pedal spring in the car that was included in a standard component catalog at the start of Gen3 because new springs that were intended for the Gen3 car were not yet available from the standard component manufacturer,” Porsche team boss Florian Modlinger told Motorsport-Magazin.com exclusively explained.
Porsche’s surprise at the scenario had already been expressed in the stewards’ statement of reasons for the verdict. Team manager James Lindesay argued that changes in the Spark catalogue, which is around 100 pages long, are normally highlighted so that everyone can see the changes. However, Spark representatives Jeremy Boudot and Pierre Prunin contradicted this statement, according to the letter from the stewards.
Felix da Costa receives support from teammate Wehrlein
Felix da Costa’s Porsche teammate Pascal Wehrlein also spoke to Motorsport-Magazin.com stood behind his stablemate – and demanded a less severe punishment: “There are possibilities (of punishment; ed.), but a disqualification is just so final. You’ve ruined someone’s whole day.”
The disqualification also had a significant impact on the World Championship battle, which was also close this season. After 12 of the 16 races of the season, Porsche is in second place in the team world championship, 73 points behind the Jaguar factory team. If the disqualification were to be revoked, this gap would be noticeably reduced. In the drivers’ championship, Felix da Costa would have moved up to sixth place, but would still be 58 points behind World Championship leader Nick Cassidy.
Formula E: Overall ranking 2024