BIOGRAPHY
Lisbon born Antonio Maria de Mello Breyner Felix da Costa began his career in karts in 2000 aged 9. Starting off in Cadet class he was to win the Portuguese Championship and Portuguese Open in 2002 before winning the South Portuguese Championship in 2003.
In 2004, he moved up to the ICA-J class but it wasn't until 2006 that he finally won the Portuguese Championship. 2006 also saw him contesting European events, with one runner-up result in the World Series Karting Championship and a third in the Italian Open Masters.
In 2007, Felix secured a factory drive with the legendary Italian Tony Kart team in the newly renamed KF2 category, his best result being a fourth in the Asia-Pacific Championship and a runner-up placing in the South-Garda Winter Cup.
2008 saw Felix switch to single-seaters, contesting the Formula Renault Eurocup and Northern European Championships (NEC) with Motopark Academy. Unlike his teammates, who included Valtteri Bottas, Felix focussed on the NEC and took his first win at Oschersleben at a time when most of his rivals were contesting the Eurocup at the Hungaroring.
Finishing the season runner-up to Bottas, as part of his prize Felix got to test a Formula Renault 3.5 Series car with the P1 Motorsport Paul Ricard.
In the Eurocup his best result was fourth, eventually finishing thirteenth in the championship. The youngster rounded off the year as rookie for A1 Team Portugal at the New Zealand and South African rounds of the 2008–09 season.
In 2009 he again contested the NEC and Eurocup, winning the former and finishing third in the latter. With nine wins in NEC and three in the Eurocup, his consistency was astonishing, finishing in the top five in the first seven races.
2010 saw him move up to the Formula 3 Euro Series, again with Motopark Academy, the youngster scoring a point in his first race. He achieved further points-scoring finishes in the Saturday races at Hockenheim, Valencia, the Norisring and the Nurburgring, going on to become the first Portuguese driver to win a race in the series when he took victory in the Sunday race at the Nurburgring. With further wins at Zandvoort and Brands Hatch, at season end he was seventh overall in the standings.
Other than Macau, where he finished 6th, and the Formula 3 Masters, Felix contested a couple of rounds of the new GP3 Series and even fitted in a day at the Young Driver Test in Abu Dhabi with Force India, the youngster completing 77 laps on his way to posting the third fastest time of the day.
For 2011, the focus was GP3 with Status Grand Prix, though there was also some British F3, Macau and even the final round of the GP2 Series. Overall however it was a disappointing year, the only success of note being a win at Monza, enough to secure 13th in the standings.
Sticking with GP3 in 2012 he left Status for Carlin. Though he took pole for the opening race (Barcelona) he jumped the start and was given a drive-through that saw him finish the race fourteenth. At Monaco he scored his first podium finish of the season, however, at the next round (Valencia) he was excluded from qualifying for a technical infringement, meaning he had to start the first race from the back of the grid. He retired from the race on the second lap following an incident with Dmitry Suranovich and was subsequently found guilty of causing an avoidable collision and given a ten-place grid penalty for the second race. However, over the course of race he moved up from 24th to 8th and set fastest lap in the process.
At Silverstone, in atrocious conditions, he scored his first win of the season, going on to finish sixth in the second race he moved into third place in the drivers' championship. Following a double retirement at Hockenheim, he won both races at the Hungaroring, the first GP3 driver to win both races during a race weekend. At season end he was third overall in the standings.
Midway through 2012, Felix was selected to join the Red Bull Junior Team, replacing Lewis Williamson at Arden Caterham in the Formula Renault 3.5 Series. Taking his first win in Hungary, there were further wins at Le Castellet and Barcelona, where he won both races.
The first win in Barcelona came after passing championship contender Sam Bird, while the second saw a standout wet weather performance, Felix taking victory by almost 28s.
In spite of missing the first five races of the season, he finished the season fourth overall, missing out on the title, which was won by Robin Frijns, by just 23 points.
To wrap up a great year, the youngster won at Macau, the first Portuguese winner of the Grand Prix since Eduardo de Carvalho won the inaugural event in 1954, and participated in the Young Driver Test in Abu Dhabi with Red Bull. On the opening day he was second quickest to Kevin Magnussen, just 0.066s off the pace, whilst the following day he was quickest of the seven drivers on duty.
In order to participate at Macau in 2012, drivers had to compete in any F3 championship race during the calendar year, other than an FIA-regulated championship meeting. Consequently Felix opted for the MotorSport Vision Formula Three Cup with Carlin, the youngster contesting the season-ending round at Snetterton. He won both races, the first by almost a minute and the second by almost forty seconds.
Remaining in Formula Renault 3.5 in 2013 much was expected, and for the most part Felix delivered, winning the Sunday race of the opening round (Monza) to get his season off to the best possible start. While there were podium finishes at Spa and Moscow, and wins at the Hungaroring and Le Castellet, at season end he was third in the championship, over 100 points adrift of title winner Magnussen.
Other than Formula Renault 3.5, Felix was in action for Red Bull at the Young Driver Test at Silverstone, finishing third on the first day and seventh on the second. He also returned to Macau with Carlin, finishing fourth in the qualification race and second (to Alex Lynn) in the main race.
Perhaps it was the mid-season slump, not helped by three retirements from four races, that saw Felix overlooked when it came to selecting a replacement for Daniel Ricciardo as he headed off to Red Bull to replace Mark Webber in 2014. While many saw the Portuguese as a shoe-in for the Toro Rosso seat, the team opted for Russian youngster Daniil Kvyat.
In his typical, no-nonsense approach, Helmut Marko subsequently admitted that he didn't feel Felix was ready for F1, denying that money was the reason for signing Kvyat.
"Kvyat provides us with the best overall package," he told Auto Motor und Sport. "He has proved that he can handle the pressure, which is something we missed in da Costa. If he is already faltering in the junior categories, how will it be in Formula One?
"I can't tell you how many drivers were sold as a huge talent before they failed at the very top," he added. "But Kvyat's curve has been all uphill. Da Costa's was flat, or it went down."
Asked if the Portuguese youngster was another 'victim' of Red Bull's ruthless approach to drivers seen as not having made the grade, Marko replied: "We have not executed da Costa; he is staying in our family. Now we have to think about his future programme. First of all, he remains the simulator and reserve driver for Red Bull Racing."
Indeed, he did, the Austrian team announcing in late December that Felix, along with Sebastien Buemi, would comprise the squad's test and reserve line-up in 2014.
The youngster never got to drive the RB10 in 2014, instead focussing on simulator work. Elsewhere, he contested the DTM with BMW Team MTEK - his best result coming in Hungary, where he finished eighth - and Formula E, where he raced with Amlin Aguri.
