Antonio Felix da Costa branded Oliver Rowland “a sore loser” as the pair collided during the first London E-Prix this weekend which eliminated the Porsche Formula E driver.
Da Costa and Rowland were battling for position in the early stages of Saturday’s race at the London ExCeL, with the Portuguese racer launching up the inside into Turn 19 on lap six to move up to fifth place.
Rowland remained partially alongside and was on the inside line into the following corner before the pair made contact, with da Costa breaking his suspension in the collision.
Following the incident, da Costa branded Rowland “a sore loser” over the radio and stated post-race that the Nissan driver is overly aggressive in wheel-to-wheel racing.
“I did a normal overtake on someone without pushing anyone into the wall and he obviously didn’t do the same thing,” said da Costa.
“In two corners we have exactly how to make an overtake and how not to make an overtake.
“He is [a sore loser], because he’s making these races where he’s coming forward and going through people and he’s obviously been enjoying that but sometimes you need to lose a position. Sometimes you are overtaken as well, it happens and it was not his corner.
Oliver Rowland, Nissan Formula E Team, Nissan e-4ORCE 04
Photo by: Simon Galloway / Motorsport Images
“He’s always the one pushing people in the wall aggressively. Maybe I should blame myself for knowing who I’m going up against.”
Rowland was able to rejoin at the back of the field and was classified 15th having been handed a five-second penalty for the collision.
The incident ended any slim chance Rowland and da Costa had of the drivers’ championship this weekend, the Briton returning to the all-electric championship having missed the last round in Portland due to illness.
“I think sometimes they [the stewards] look too much at the consequence,” said Rowland.
“We were both racing hard and actually the incident was more dictated by the fact that the steering wheel got taken out of my hands.
“He’d squeezed me out of Turn 19, I stood my ground into Turn 20, we made contact, it was just a bit unfortunate how the cars connected, to be honest. It is what it is, you win some, you lose some.”