On Friday the 18th of November Costa lined up for qualifying in the F4 support race at the Abu Dhabi F1 Grand Prix. Unfortunately, things didn’t go Costa’s way and he finished qualifying in P9.
The following day Costa had a brilliant race, during the short race he made his way from P9 to P4. It was this race that opened the eyes of his Carlin team and financial supported, Mr David Dicker. This was some phenomenal racing by the 15-year-old, fresh to Formula racing. This performance put Costa on P3 for Sunday’s final, within race winning reach.
Sunday, the finals. The track was buzzing with F2 also having their support race and the F1 final race on the same day. It’s a lot to take in for a young man trying to get the best out of himself.
Costa’s final was looking great, he was sitting comfortably in third position, with potential to move forward. There was an early safety car but almost immediately after the restart, another driver ran into the back of Costa’s car causing damage to both cars. Unfortunately, that was the end of Costa’s possibility to contend for the win. The driver had hit the back of Costa’s car so hard that it caused a rear tyre puncture and Costa was forced to pit. Costa re-joined the race behind the safety car unfortunately in last position with only two laps remaining. Costa was able to finish the race in 8th place.
Costa is more determined than ever to prove himself and will now returned to the UK to further his experience and improve where he can.
“I’d like to thank Carlin and Rodin Cars for the opportunity to race at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix. I’m sorry that I couldn’t get the result that Carlin & Rodin deserve but promise to work extremely hard to improve and bring them top results in future.”
