Antonio Felix da Costa is the latest driver signing, completing the duo for the Amlin Aguri team alongside Katherine Legge. The Formula E announcements are arriving thick and fast today due to the imminent testing due to start from tomorrow 3rd July. This latest signing leaves just four remaining seats available in the inaugural championship – two in China Racing, one at Dragon Racing and one at Andretti Autosport. The latter has scheduled Scott Speed and Gil de Ferran to participate in the testing from tomorrow until they are able to sign a driver for the season.
Felix da Costa’s early racing career began in karting in 2000 and in 2006 he announced himself as one of the world’s rising stars when he won the Portuguese Junior Championship with a perfect 10-out-of-10 race wins. Further highlighting his potential was a runners up placing in the World Series Karting Championship and a third placed finish in the Italian Open Championship.
In 2008, Felix da Costa graduated to single seat racing competing in Formula Renault 2.0 where he won the Northern European Championship in 2009. He then went on to race in Formula 3 and World Series by Renault 3.5. In 2010 he became the youngest ever Portuguese driver to test an F1 car with Force India in Abu Dhabi where he finished an impressive 3rd overall.
Felix da Costa’s break out season came in 2012 when he won the prestigious Formula 3 Macau Grand Prix joining a winners list occupied by the likes of Aytron Senna and Michael Schumacher. He also placed third overall in GP3 and competed in World Series by Renault finishing fourth overall winning four races out of the six he entered in the nine round series. In that same year Felix da Costa was signed to Red Bull’s Junior Development programme participating in the F1 Young Driver Test for Red Bull Racing in Abu Dhabi. In 2013, Felix da Costa narrowly missed out on defending his Macau Grand Prix crown when he finished second. He then placed third overall in the World Series by Renault and begun as a reserve and test driver for Infiniti Red Bull Racing taking part at the Silverstone Young Drivers’ Test. In 2014, Felix da Costa continues his role as Red Bull’s test and reserve driver while also competing in DTM with the BMW works team and now also Amlin Aguri in Formula E.
Source; FIA Formula E
