João Costa

João Costa (born July 12, 1989) is a Portuguese racing driver. He currently competes in Formula One driving for Ferrari.

Costa was born in Lisbon, but first racing was not his hobby, as he was interested in football and was in one of Sporting CP's youth team. However after seeing the 2001 NASCAR Season, won by Jeff Gordon he decided to focus on racing. He started in Karting in Portugal, and then later competed in the NASCAR Whelen Euro Series (then called the Racecar Euro Series), made his way to America to race in the Sprint Cup. In 2016 he decided to make the jump from NASCAR to F1, he was able to win 11 races and struck a friendly rivalry with Dylan Pavel, which he faced and defeated in the 2014 Race of Champions, which he later became runner up of.

Costa has become wildly popular for his bad luck and accidents, and a result to this he has a large fanbase, despite him not even starting in F1.

Early Career
Costa's Karting career started relatively late as initially he was not focused on Motorsports, he was not predicted to go very far in his career as he started late, but he was able to win races between 2002-2006.

For 2007 he had a chance to move to the USA for the Craftsman Truck Series (now called the Camping World Truck Series) and compete in NASCAR. However he did not feel like he was ready for the jump as he had done karting for the last few years.

Racecar Euro Series
In 2009 he was part of the initial Racecar Euro Series, and his inexperience costed him dearly as he finished 4th out of 5 drivers in the season (there was no divisions at that time), with his only highlight of that season was winning his first race after wrecking out the leader on the final turn of the final lap.

For 2010, the division system was introduced, however he stayed on the Elite 1 division, keeping his Chevrolet ride, he stormed to victory after winning 7 out of 10 season races, he had a ride for 2011, however Earnhardt-Ganassi's interest captivated Costa, taking him to NASCAR's elite season.

2011 - Earnhardt-Ganassi
After his romp to victory in the Racecar Euro Series in 2010, he moved to the USA to compete in NASCAR's elite division, starting in the 2011 Daytona 500. He came in 12th, but his season would only get better after the Kobalt Tools 400, where he got his first victory. He won 9 of the remaining 26 races before the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup started. He won the 2nd race, and by the time he got his win in Homestead which secured him the season win, he had 12 wins to his name in his first NASCAR season, becoming the first foreign championship winner in NASCAR's history.

Despite his hotheaded history, he was fairly clean while driving, but that still did not avoid him from tangling Carl Edwards with in the Pure Michigan 400, wrecking both cars out of the race. Who wrecked who intentionally is still being debated to this day as Costa turned to the right to hit the bumper of Carl Edwards, and Edwards turning to the left too soon as if to wreck out on purpose to make Costa look bad or an ill-conceived attempt to block João Costa.

He was named Rookie of the Year by a landslide after winning the season and came 2nd in the Fan's Favourite Driver vote, being edged out by Dale Earnhardt Jr.

2012-13 - Richard Childress Racing
Costa was signed by Richard Childress to replace Jeff Burton, who had retired from the sport, he won the Daytona 500, which had seen an incident featuring Juan Pablo Montoya, who Costa was a teammate of back in 2011, wreck into a jet drier, putting out a lengthy red flag.

He had 22 races to his name by the time he arrived to the Chase. However subpar finishes almost knocked him out of the running, but he held on to win at Homestead and win his 2nd season. Another notable race he won in 2012 was the Brickyard 400, where he edged out Jeff Gordon by 2 inches to win. He was fined and deducted 25 points for swearing live on air after winning the 2012 Aaron's 499 after telling his doubters to "fuck off" as he "won the fucking lot" after lapping 29 cars out of the 43 on the grid, bearing similarities to when Dale Earnhardt Jr. was fined for that, dropping him from first to second in the 2004 NEXTEL Cup Series season which Earnhardt Jr. later lost to Kurt Busch in.

He stayed for Richard Childress for the 2013 season, he started out the 2013 Daytona 500 positively with a 2nd place, losing out to Jimmie Johnson. However his season would only get worse as disqualifications for Dangerous Driving ensued after a feud with Kyle Busch saw a fight break out between both crews in the Coca-Cola 600 after a wreck in lap 142 which was later followed by poor finishes, leaving Costa without a win by the time the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup rolled around, he was able to win at Talladega for the Camping World RV Sales 500, after a caution flag ended the race after Austin Dillon wrecked his 14 car, stopping Dale Jr from passing Costa.

2014-15 - Stewart HAAS Racing
Stewart-HAAS racing was looking for a driver to replace Danica Patrick in the #10 car, they went for João Costa, who was looking to leave RCR after a poor season. Costa was sponsored by Shell, who sponsored Costa's former teammate, Kevin Harvick. He also participated in the 2014 Race of Champions this season.

Costa started strong by winning the Daytona 500 in 2014 after a rain delay, passing Dale Earnhardt Jr. on the last lap. He went on to win 9 races, and an extra All-Star Race win in Charlotte being his 10th of the season, however the race did not count for points, but it is still credited in Costa's NASCAR wins tally. It was the time for the Chase again, and this time wins at the AAA 500 and the Goody's Headache Relief Shot 500 being his 10th and 11th win of the season brought him to the Championship 4 stage, he did not win the race, he came 6th, but due to Kevin Harvick coming in 9th, Ryan Newman in 11th and Denny Hamlin in 19th Costa won his 3rd and final NASCAR Championship.

By the time 2015 rolled around, Costa was on 35 all time wins, he stuck to the #10 for 2015. He wrecked on the final lap of the Daytona 500 after Jeff Gordon caused the big one on the backstretch. More decent finishes followed, and eventually Costa won his first of the season in the 2015 GEICO 500, holding back Dale Jr. and Jimmie Johnson. He won another consecutive race in the SpongeBob SquarePants 400, which brought his all time tally to 37. He failed to win more races by the time the Chase rolled around, he stuck close during the Challenge Round to go through to the Contender Round, won the Bank of America 500 to go through to the Eliminator round and won his final race of the 2015 season in the AAA Texas 500 to go to the Championship 4. He failed to win at Homestead, he came 2nd to rival Kyle Busch after being blocked on the last lap.

Season 1 - Mercedes
Before the 2016 NASCAR Sprint Cup season, Costa made the shock announcement that he would be leaving NASCAR for Formula One to join Williams (see Season 0). This angered many fans who thought that he was fit for NASCAR, but also made many wonder if he had won the 2015 NASCAR Sprint Cup season he would've stayed. However he went to Williams to join Pavel.

Costa showed good signs at first, picking up a win at Australia and multiple second places, notably "throwing away" a win at Bahrain in his debut race in Formula One, forgetting that pit stops were mandatory, and so he pitted before the last lap, causing his rival Dylan Pavel to win. Costa reported that he "was not used to the pit stop system" as in NASCAR pit stops are not mandatory (but if not taken the driver will either run out of fuel or have one of his tyres go flat) and there are not different tyre compounds. However he failed to win more races, coming in 5th.

Season 2-8 - Ferrari
In Season 2, he was able to pick up his first win of the season in Bahrain, a race he would go on to win 6 consecutive times. He put up a better fight, but a lack of wins meant a finish behind the Mercedes duo, and just edging out Sebastian Vettel by a point to get 3rd. This was a new exciting season for both Pavel and Costa, who later became teammates and friends in Ferrari. Costa was able to win his 2nd consecutive race at Bahrain and his 3rd all time win in Canada, in a race famed for his 6 second penalty almost making him lose the race to Pavel, who also got a 3 second penalty. Pavel went on to be World Champion for a 3rd time, and Costa took 3rd place, finishing behind Nico Rosberg but ahead of Hamilton.

Season 4 would be much of the same for Pavel, Costa won his 3rd consecutive race at Bahrain but fell flat in the championship, finishing in 6th which was the lowest for him.

Season 5 through 6 would be seasons where Costa only won one race, Bahrain. Pavel had won his 6th World Championship at the time, clearly proving that Pavel was winning the teammate battle, rumours followed that Costa would leave Ferrari for Mercedes in a bid to defeat Pavel. Costa denied these claims and said that he would try his best for Ferrari.

Season 7 was Costa's breakthrough season, winning 3 races in Baku, Bahrain and Canada, his win in Canada and 2nd place at Malaysia would make Costa lead the World Championship by 6 points by the time the final race in China came. Costa came 2nd but Dylan Pavel won the race, beating João Costa by 2 points. It was Pavel's 7th consecutive World Championship, making him equal best with Michael Schumacher for most Championship Wins. Costa was downhearted by losing by 2 points to his Ferrari Teammate, saying that not winning that season was a disaster as he could've proved that he was ready for F1.

Season 8 was the first time since Season 1 that Costa failed to win any races, he scored constant podiums which gave him 4th place, but he felt that Dylan Pavel was given more privileges at Ferrari, so he left Ferrari after a row with team boss Maurizio Arrivabene.

Season 9 - Renault
Renault took Costa after the controversial 8th season. This saw Costa wreck out on the race in Hungary, but he secured a 1-2 with Pavel at Bahrain, taking 2nd and showing that Costa could still compete despite being in a barren period. The season was cancelled after 8 races, meaning that Pavel was World Champion with only 8 wins, adding on to his 91 wins at the time. This lead Costa to finish in 9th with 18 points.

Season 10 - Mercedes
After his disappointing loss in Season 7, arguments with Ferrari staff in Season 8, and a poor finish with Renault caused Mercedes to swoop in for Costa despite his disappointing seasons, giving him Driver #1 seat and powerful machinery on paper to beat Pavel, however wrecks, disqualifications and poor finishes caused João Costa to finish joint last with Palmer with 0 points, Nico Rosberg went on to challenge Pavel for the title, dragging the season to it's final race in Malaysia to decide who would be champion, Rosberg lost by 4 points, making many wonder if Costa would've won the season if he did not have the bad luck that he had.

João Costa's disqualification at the USA GP raised many eyebrows as he was leading Pavel with 4 laps to go, Costa did nothing wrong but still got Disqualified for supposed accumulation of time penalties and drive-thru penalties. This raised the conspiracy that the FIA were against Costa for starting in NASCAR, a theory which is believed by many fans of João Costa.

After an 13th place finish in Malaysia, Mercedes fired Costa.

Season 11 - Torro Rosso
Costa joined 9 time World Champion Pavel at Torro Rosso after Pavel won the season with Williams, reversing the roles of their first season, where Costa was in Williams and Pavel in Williams. Costa was expecting to do well in the 2nd Belgium GP, however he became a surprise winner after Dylan Pavel was held back by Kimi Räikkönen. Costa had to hold off Vettel and Rosberg to win the race.

That was not Costa's last win, he won a controversial race in Canada, after pitting when Dylan Pavel was supposed to pit, he had to race Pavel who was on soft tyres when it was raining. Costa came 1st ahead of Pavel who also had a time penalty. Pavel blamed Costa initially for the incident, but an FIA investigation later concluded that it was Torro Rosso's fault for a miscommunication between drivers leading to the pit incident.

Pavel and Costa were 1st and 2nd respectively for most of the season, but after Costa's win in Canada, Costa failed to finish 3 out of the remaining 4 races, making him drop from 2nd to 5th in a disappointing turn of events. Costa had to watch Pavel win his 100th race and 11th World Championship.

Season 12 - Ferrari
Ferrari decided to take Costa and Pavel again, this was an eagerly anticipated move, exciting many fans and bringing hope to Costa. Costa retired a healthy car at Silverstone after his team putting soft tyres on a raining track, stating that he could not race with such ignorance on the team. He wrecked out in Italy, shortly after the race begun. However it was his race in Belgium that was extremely worrying. Costa was running in 7th at the Belgian GP, looking to pass Alonso for 6th on the final straight, he was spun by Alonso, and tried to comically cross the line backwards. Kvyat and Grosjean came in his direction, Kvyat missed but Grosjean hit the Ferrari head on, knocking Costa out unconscious, and later leading to a 9 day coma.

Costa's return in Spain was not as planned, he was hoping to drive carefully to avoid wrecking out of the race, and as he hit the sand trap, he spun into the wall, later making his engine give way and die before he could even complete a lap. Australia would be much better for Costa, with him having a battle for 2nd against Rosberg and Hamilton for 2nd, after pitting in lap 11 he fell to 5th, and eventually a tyre puncture and fuel running out in the last lap made him finish 20th, without any points for the first 5 races, which is the way it would stay as a time penalty brought him down from 10th to 11th in China.

Season 13 - HAAS
After being disappointing in Ferrari, he made his return to HAAS which he had raced in NASCAR for, he had belief in the team that other drivers did not, and he made the bold call of saying that he would be able to challenge Dylan Pavel for the title.

Season 14 - RedBull
Costa returned to a good form as he got several podiums and over 100 points. Some question the legitimacy of this 100+ points achievement as it was a longer season, but fact is that Costa was once again a race win contender as he was able to battle with his teammate Dylan Pavel and do well when needed.

Season 1 - Wauters Motorsports
Costa's return to NASCAR started with winning stage 1, despite getting no points in Stage 2 and coming 2nd at Daytona, Costa got his first win back into NASCAR at Charlotte after doing a risky strategy of staying out, overcoming a 30 second pit stop penalty.