António Félix da Costa joins Mitch Evans at Jaguar for Formula E Season 12
António Félix da Costa will race for Jaguar in Formula E’s Season 12, joining long-time team leader Mitch Evans in what promises to be one of the most experienced driver pairings on the grid.
The Portuguese driver’s move marks the end of his three-year stint with Porsche, where tensions had grown in recent seasons. His departure follows a turbulent 2024 campaign that saw the relationship between driver and team deteriorate — culminating in his decision to join one of Porsche’s closest rivals.
Jaguar, which enters Season 12 under new leadership, confirmed da Costa’s arrival on Wednesday. The move reunites the 2019–20 Formula E champion with a British manufacturer for the first time in his electric racing career.
Da Costa’s exit from Porsche came after a series of internal flashpoints, including the team’s private test with Nico Müller, which cast doubt over the former champion’s long-term future. A further incident ahead of the São Paulo E-Prix in early 2024 reportedly went unresolved, deepening the rift.
The situation worsened after a Free Practice 1 incident in Berlin that left insiders questioning the relationship between driver and management.
Despite the unrest, da Costa ended his Porsche tenure strongly — winning four of the last seven races in Season 10 and helping secure Porsche’s first Formula E title in Season 12. His record still includes five wins in Porsche colours and the all-time largest championship-winning margin of 77 points from his title year with DS Techeetah.
Jaguar rebuilds with champions
Da Costa joins Jaguar during a period of significant restructuring following the departures of team principal James Barclay, engineering director Phil Charles, and driver Nick Cassidy.
Their replacements include Ian James, the former Mercedes and McLaren Formula E team boss who guided Mercedes to back-to-back titles in 2021 and 2022 with Nyck de Vries and Stoffel Vandoorne.
“Bringing in two championship-winning figures in both da Costa and James signals Jaguar’s clear intent to return to the top,” a team insider said. “It’s a new era for the Big Cat.”
For Mitch Evans, Season 12 will mark his tenth consecutive year with Jaguar — a rare milestone in Formula E. The New Zealander remains one of the most consistent drivers in the series, though his 2025 campaign was his lowest-scoring since 2019–20, finishing 13th in the standings with 74 points and two race victories.
Evans narrowly missed out on the title in Season 11, losing by just six points to Pascal Wehrlein, before enduring a mixed follow-up year.
Jaguar endured a difficult start to 2025 but recovered strongly to finish second in the teams’ standings, powered by Evans and Cassidy’s four late-season wins. The team also claimed its first constructors’ title in Season 11 — a sign of growing competitiveness under the current Gen3 regulations.
With da Costa’s arrival and James’s leadership, Jaguar hopes to challenge Porsche, Nissan and Maserati for both the drivers’ and teams’ championships in 2026.
Da Costa’s proven racecraft and Evans’s long-term experience give the Kidlington-based outfit arguably the most balanced and battle-hardened line-up on the grid.
