Da Costa accepts blame for BMW FE clash in Marrakesh

Antonio Felix da Costa has accepted responsibility for causing the collision between himself and teammate Alexander Sims that cost the BMW Formula E squad victory in the Marrakesh E-Prix.

The BMW-Andretti pair were headed for a 1-2 finish in Marrakesh after both drivers found a way past polesitter Sam Bird in the early stages, before coming together in dramatic circumstances with only 16 minutes left on the clock.

Sims lined up a pass around the outside of da Costa into Turn 7, only for both drivers to made contact and lock up. The incident sent da Costa into the barriers and out of the race, while Sims was able to return to the circuit and salvage fourth.

Afterwards, da Costa - who had led the championship standings after winning the opening round of the 2018/19 season in Saudi Arabia - apologised to BMW and conceded he should have settled for second place.

“First of all I apologise to the team because I’ve never been in this situation before and I’m sorry,” da Costa said.

“Alex was amazing today and I made a mistake. We fought for it, I locked up and couldn’t make the corner as a consequence and he lost out as well. So I’m sorry.

“I think I should have given him the race earlier to be honest. We won round one, should have been more than happy with P2 today.

“It’s a long year and clearly the outcome of today is not how we are going to win this championship. We’ll learn from it and it will make us stronger.”

The first rule in motorsport, don't hit your teammate! @afelixdacosta is out of the race #MarrakeshEPrix pic.twitter.com/G1c71z4hMG

— ABB Formula E (@FIAFormulaE) January 12, 2019

Sims said he felt he needed to make a move due to the increasing threat from the gaggle of drivers immediately behind him.

“I could just see the cars behind were catching and at some point I felt I needed to try and make a move,” Sims explained.

"But the way we all went about that was wrong so we need to learn from it and move on. It was just massively unfortunate to end like that.

“It’s not what any of us in the team want. Ultimately we all made mistakes in managing that situation and we need to learn from it and come back stronger for the next one.

Team principal Roger Griffiths added it was important for his team not to dwell on the “frustrating and disappointing” incident in order to move on quickly.

“I think what we have to recognise is the effort from everybody in this garage to put us in that position off leading the race and running second,” he said.

“We’ve shown that we are strong in Riyad, we were running very strongly here and it was a great opportunity for us.

“No one is to blame for it. We celebrated as a team together in Riyad and we will commiserate here in Morocco and prove we are just as strong when we get to Santiago.

“We are all friends, just a little frustrated we missed out on the top and second step on the podium.”

BMW-Andretti motorsport director Jens Marquardt revealed the team had analysed the crash with both its drivers and will ensure a similar incident is not repeated in future. 

"Regrettably, we didn't manage to capitalise on our good performance," Marquardt added. 

"We have analysed the incident with both drivers and we will learn from this as the season continues. 

"We are all in agreement that an incident like this will not occur again."