BMW boss Mark Griffiths said that the Rome ePrix was a perfect lesson in damage limitation for his BMW i Andretti Motorsport team after both cars started well down the grid.

Previous championship leader Antonio Felix da Costa started down in thirteenth after having to qualify on a cold track as he was out in group one in qualifying, and team-mate Alexander Sims had a technical issue on his hot lap so started at the very back of the field.

With the tight Rome track being difficult to pass on both drivers made limited progress, with Sims only finishing in seventeenth after receiving a stop-go penalty early on for contact on the opening lap.

Da Costa fared slightly better, working his way up into the points by finishing in ninth.

Afterwards Griffiths said that their result was the best the team could have hoped for given their starting positions.

“The race was a good lesson in damage limitation for us,” he said. “Given our starting positions, it was all about keeping António among the front-runners in the Drivers’ Championship.

“We have managed that. He is second, just one point behind the leader, and had a few battles in the midfield in today’s race.

“The focus through all this was always on bringing the car home and scoring valuable points.

“Alexander could not do much from last place on the grid, especially when he then received the penalty. Despite that, he used the race to learn as much as possible, looking ahead to the rest of the season.”

Da Costa agreed that the points he scored would be important in the final driver’s standings, but similarly to new championship leader Jerome D’Ambrosio he complained about the qualifying system hampering the leading drivers by making them always go out in the first group.

“Firstly, it is important to have scored some points again and to stay in touch at the top of the Drivers’ Championship,” da Costa said.

“Despite that, I am a little frustrated, as our car was far faster today than we were able to show in the race.

“Unfortunately, the qualifying group put paid to that. It is extremely difficult to climb out of the pack and to the front of the field in Formula E.”