How Puebla's high-altitude encounter gave Formula E's new leader breathing space

It’s ironic that the Valley of Mexico should sit well in excess of 2000 metres above sea level. And there’s something in the very thin air in this region that’s seemingly hellbent on scuppering Pascal Wehrlein and his pursuit of a maiden Formula E victory. It’s the same air that appears to profit Lucas di Grassi time and time again as he ended a protracted drought to land a third triumph in the region. Meanwhile, the altitude left Edoardo Mortara utterly breathless on his way to the spoils the next day to depart Latin American with a comparatively commanding points lead by the standards of the series.

Wehrlein was just 10 metres away from scoring the win in Mexico City back in 2019 when his Mahindra Racing machine swigged the last of its energy and he fell prey to di Grassi at the line, the Brazilian’s second success at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez. Spectators rose to their feet in celebration and after such a show, they returned to the venue in their droves last season. As championship chief executive officer Jamie Reigle told Autosport last Friday: “Mexico is the one of the few markets where we’ve got real traction.”

But with the classic Formula 1 venue currently housing a COVID-19 vaccination centre, it couldn’t reprise its electric role in 2021. Reigle “adamant” the country wouldn’t fall off the calendar, it led to an unlikely call up for the off-beat Miguel E. Abed circuit that’s a 45-minute drive from the city of Puebla. At this diminutive 15-turn oval-based track, a debate broke out that will continue in the paddock for some time. When should the rules soften in order to save face for Formula E?

Wehrlein was imperious throughout the first race day. The Porsche ace topped group qualifying after the rain from 18 hours earlier bizarrely rose through the cracked asphalt. He then snared a second pole for himself and the manufacturer in the country by 0.058s over one-lap star Oliver Rowland. At the getaway, he took full advantage of the Nissan e.dams driver’s strife – a broken radio and software glitch that cut the Briton’s revs on his launch and dropped him to 14th – to lead away unchallenged.

That left it to fifth-starting Maximilian Guenther to give chase, the BMW Andretti charger surging by Jean-Eric Vergne who was forced into immediate avoiding action starting directly behind Rowland. But when Guenther lost time as he dropped a wheel onto the grass, in the eyes of Andretti Autosport team principal Roger Griffiths, it gave Wehrlein a “freebie” as he dived into the joker lap-style attack mode gate and resumed in third. He was soon restored to the front as Guenther and his Bimmer team-mate Jake Dennis moved for their 35kW boost and from there Wehrlein built a gap. Leading from lap eight to the flag after 28 tours, the grand prix refugee bagged the spoils by some 3.6s for what should have been an historic first victory for Porsche.

Pascal Wehrlein, TAG Heuer Porsche, Porsche 99X Electric

Photo by: Andreas Beil

However, he was under investigation. Race engineer Kyle Wilson-Clark advised Wehrlein to pull out a 5s cushion to cover off any looming penalty, but even that would have proved wildly insufficient. Moments after Wehrlein crossed the line, his name flicked to the foot of the timing screens. He was disqualified. The crime? Porsche hadn’t declared its tyre allocation ahead of the race, which breached the rules governing the technical passport for each car and meant supplier Michelin could not “perform the required pressure management”. There was no performance advantage to be gained. It was administrative error whereby someone had clicked one button on the laptop rather than the correct one.

Head of Porsche FE operations Amiel Lindesay framed the controversy, saying: “I talked about it with the FIA. It’s something as a group that we need to work on to make sure such a thing doesn’t rule over the championship. It doesn’t look good in the big picture.”

By the letter of the law, it was foul play, but for a championship that endured a major image problem in Valencia in April amid mass energy retirements, it wasn’t a good look and left viewers bewildered. Formula E co-founder Alejandro Agag was apoplectic: “I wanted to kill somebody. I saw a fantastic show by Porsche and Pascal. I wasn’t happy with them not winning. Actually, we should apologise to the fans because they don’t know what happened.”

Team-mate Lotterer plus Rowland and stablemate Sebastien Buemi were thrown out for the same offence and Porsche paid the princely sum of €2000 to appeal the outcome, a case they will put together this week. The double-header round means overturning the results is almost impossible. Wehrlein lost 25 points, impacting his group qualifying position for the following day’s race and changing the complexion of the title battle. This protest, it might be said, is more about kicking up a fuss to prevent such a detail from hammering reputations again.

With Wehrlein cast aside, Audi scored a momentous 1-2, di Grassi leading Rene Rast. The pair climbed from eighth and ninth on the grid, thanks in part to Guenther overconsuming energy and Alexander Sims pinching Vergne against the wall where the attack mode loop filters back onto the racing line.

Neither di Grassi nor Audi had tasted victory since a home triumph in Berlin in 2019 as the e-tron FE07 – featuring the first powertrain to be designed in-house by the manufacturer – finally delivered on the race pace promise it has shown frequently this term. For 2016-17 champion di Grassi, there was a bittersweet sentiment to his success. Not because it was a win inherited, for he copped his fair share of bad luck when a driveshaft failure eliminated him from the lead in Rome. More because this new engine might not have its full potential exploited with Audi primed to quit Formula E at the end of the season.

Lucas Di Grassi, Audi Sport ABT Schaeffler, 1st position, celebrates in Parc Ferme

Photo by: Sam Bagnall / Motorsport Images

He said: “We did a lot of work, we put a lot of effort and we developed a winning car. For Audi to leave, considering that next year will be exactly the same powertrain and we’ll have a winning powertrain again, it’s very frustrating.” But his chagrin during a moment of celebration pales in comparison to the strife Wehrlein experienced once again on Sunday.

He and Rowland reversed positions on the grid, the Nissan e.dams driver earning his fourth pole by a more generous 0.192s margin. Now fully able to communicate with his team, Rowland executed a daring strategy by moving for both of his attack modes early on. With Wehrlein covering off the threat and following suit, in the hotter Sunday temperatures both drivers asked a little too much of their tyres before letting them cool and so fell into the clutches of Mortara. The wolf-eyed Swiss driver was a grateful recipient of third in race one after the headline exclusion came into effect and assumed first place 24 hours later.

As Wehrlein regained control of his rubber, he closed to Mortara. The thinner air meant he bided his time, waiting longer than normal to sit in the slipstream in an attempt to build up an energy advantage. The key passing point of the weekend, it looked as though a lunge into the tight Turn 1 left-hander would be Wehrlein’s best bet. But through the long and eight degree banked Turn 15, a suitable substitute for the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez’s fabulous Peraltada curve, Mortara kept carving out a tenth or two to keep the Porsche in check.

“I wanted to kill somebody. I saw a fantastic show by Porsche and Pascal. I wasn’t happy with them not winning. Actually, we should apologise to the fans because they don’t know what happened"Alejandro Agag

Genuine respite came, though, on lap 25 of 32 when Wehrlein ran wide on the approach to blind Turn 7 – the site of many incidents over the weekend, with the entry featuring a wall not included in the FIA simulator data that threw the drivers’ line of sight. The minor loss itself only shed a couple of tenths, but bigger damage was dealt when Wehrlein washed wide over the marbles to fall 2.3s in arrears at the line. But even partial redemption with second place would prove short-lived.

Still permitted to attend the post-race podium press conference, on his way over Wehrlein was informed that he was again the centre of the stewards’ attention. Initially under investigation for a power spike, often caused by cars reacting badly to bumps, it then transpired that he’d incorrectly deployed his fanboost.

Opting to use it late in the race, Wehrlein didn’t have sufficient energy remaining to hit the minimum 240kW level. Some three hours after the contest had ended, he was slapped with a 5s penalty and dropped to fourth in the amended results. That promoted Envision Virgin Racing rookie Nick Cassidy to a maiden podium, the runner-up finding redemption after a clumsy race-one shunt when he careered into the wall on the opening lap all by himself. Meanwhile, Rowland moved on to the bottom step of the rostrum. In two days, Wehrlein had bled a sizeable 31 points and he now sits 12th in the table, 24 off the top.

Edoardo Mortara, Venturi Racing, Silver Arrow 02

Photo by: Alastair Staley / Motorsport Images

It’s Mortara who holds, by Formula E standards, an unconventional 10-point cushion as the new championship leader. A feat he really had to work for. Tuning into his team radio, he was panting his way round for the duration of the 45 minutes plus one lap on course to a second series win, the first coming in Hong Kong two years ago.

“It was one of the most horrible race weekends for that,” he told Autosport, still gasping for air after the media pen as he climbed the stairs to the track bridge. “I think I’m someone who’s quite fit, but here, I guess because of the altitude, it was quite tough.”

A fair criticism of Venturi Racing in the first half of the season has been that whenever Mercedes, its powertrain donor, has done one thing, the Monegasque squad has sought the opposite. When the Silver Arrows, with three wins so far in 2021, opted in qualifying to head straight for a flying lap, the Venturi Racing duo scrubbed their tyres with a conservative preparation lap. When the Mercs were relentlessly saving energy in the races, the white cars were copping penalties for overconsuming.

But after a six-week break since Monaco and a raft of software and procedural tweaks, the roles were emphatically reversed in Puebla. “We were not having these kind of performances in the first part of the season,” continued Mortara. “We understood a few things that we did wrong, and actually brought some solutions. But we were far actually from expecting that kind of form. We take it, that doesn’t mean that we will be extremely competitive for the next race weekend [in New York City], but we will fight hard. We did an amazing job actually with analysing the data. It’s a very small team but has great minds, and I’m extremely happy to be racing for them.”

Where Mortara now has breathing space in one table, the manufacturers’ race is growing ever tighter. No points in Monaco was compounded by just eight gained in Puebla for Mercedes. In the Jaguar Racing camp, a crash for Sam Bird on Saturday – tapped into the wall at the exit of attack mode by Alex Lynn – brought out the safety car to nullify team-mate Mitch Evans’ power boost. With DS Techeetah sandwiched in the middle, just four points separate the big hitters ahead of a punishing series of double-headers to conclude this season, one in which new-found FIA World Championship status has brought with it plenty of governing body-based controversy.

Oliver Rowland, Nissan e.Dams, Nissan IMO2, Edoardo Mortara, Venturi Racing, Silver Arrow 02, Jake Dennis, BMW I Andretti Motorsport, BMW iFE.21, Jean-Eric Vergne, DS Techeetah, DS E-Tense FE21

Photo by: Simon Galloway / Motorsport Images