How Wehrlein earned redemption as Porsche ended its Formula E wait

Picture this: it’s the start of the Mexico City E-Prix's 12th lap. Andre Lotterer has just been mobbed by the two DS Techeetah cars, with Jean-Eric Vergne in position to pick polesitter Pascal Wehrlein’s pocket on the next lap. Edoardo Mortara, having already cleared Wehrlein, is a few seconds up the road. Once more, it seems like another missed opportunity for Porsche to claim its long-awaited first Formula E victory, despite its latent pace around the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez.

But, just over 28 laps later, Wehrlein leads Lotterer across the line for a Porsche 1-2, nine seconds up the road from Vergne. Classic Formula E, really.

And it was a classic, keeping the capacity crowd in attendance on tenterhooks – brimming with plays for the lead, battles throughout the pack and a late-race energy crisis that required numerous drivers to sip their remaining kilowatt-hours like an expensive glass of Scotch. If only the energy from the Foro Sol stadium spectators could be tapped…

Finally, Wehrlein had banished the spectre that had loomed over his Formula E career thus far: his previous misfortunes in Mexico. In 2019, Wehrlein was deprived of victory at the line, when his Mahindra ran out of charge and Lucas di Grassi rounded him in sight of the chequered flag to continue the German’s wait for victory. And, at last year’s Puebla race, Wehrlein crossed the line first – only for an incorrectly filled-out form to deny him the trophy. Neither energy problems nor bureaucracy could scupper Wehrlein’s chances this time. It was third-time lucky.

Porsche had demonstrated immediate pace in practice, picking up from a solid showing at Diriyah and taking it a step further, as Lotterer surged to top spot in FP1 ahead of a seemingly resurgent Sebastien Buemi. The German looked to kick on and continue that pace, sitting atop the FP2 times for a lengthy spell in the session before Antonio Felix da Costa pumped in a late time to depose Lotterer from the top.

Porsche then laid down the gauntlet in stunning form in qualifying; Lotterer and Wehrlein topped their respective groups to book places in the quarter-finals for the new duels format. There, they were drawn against stiff competition in the Mercedes duo; Lotterer took on Nyck de Vries, while Wehrlein had opening round polesitter Stoffel Vandoorne to contend with as they sought to get into the mix for pole.

Wehrlein served notice of his intentions by claiming pole, only his second with Porsche

Photo by: Sam Bloxham / Motorsport Images

Mercedes’ strong pace from Diriyah, however, looked somewhat absent in Mexico. Vandoorne and de Vries crept into the top four of their groups, with team principal Ian James admitting that they’d got through “by the skin of their teeth”. There was no more luck to ride, however; Lotterer brushed de Vries aside and Wehrlein beat Vandoorne by four tenths after the Belgian dipped onto the grass at Turn 1 to immediately botch his lap.

Lotterer was arguably the favourite for pole given his practice exploits, but a self-confessed mistake meant he lost out in his semi-final to Mortara, while Wehrlein put in an excellent final sector against Vergne in the second semi to seek retribution for Lotterer’s early bath.

Mortara certainly aimed for style points in the final draw, dazzling at the start of the lap but started to find his Venturi becoming loose underneath him, resulting in the Swiss driver crossing the finish line sideways in an apparent audition for a Tokyo Drift remake. Wehrlein kept it clean, securing his third pole in Formula E.

The Stuttgart manufacturer now had the race in a headlock; its cars had more energy and the top two positions. To put it beyond any late challenges from the chasing pack, Porsche pulled its ace card out of its sleeve and Wehrlein was again told to pick up the pace

The race proved to be the biggest exhibition of Porsche’s control over the Mexico weekend, although it hardly looked that way at the start. Wehrlein covered off Mortara to cement an early lead but, at the start of the eighth lap, Mortara grabbed a superb exit from the famed Peraltada 180-degree corner and blasted past for the lead. Looking to make hay in the early stages, Mortara then set a fastest lap and continued to break-build over the two Porsches.

It was at this stage that, upon reflection, Lotterer explained that the Porsches were vulnerable. The two white cars fell into the clutches of the black-and-gold DS Techeetahs of Vergne and da Costa as they sought to save energy for later. Lotterer was quickly dispatched by the pair at the top of lap 12, and Wehrlein wisely elected not to battle Vergne on the following lap as the Frenchman was still in his first attack mode activation.

Da Costa was quickly back on the chopping block for Lotterer, however, and the Portuguese driver shed his front-left fender in their stadium skirmish as the latter picked up attack mode. The Porsche pair then managed to stabilise thereafter, holding third and fourth as they attempted to back-seat drive the direction of the race.

To do that, Wehrlein’s engineer Kyle Wilson-Clarke gave his charge the hurry-up, telling him to sink his saved energy into getting back ahead of Vergne. Vergne, meanwhile, had closed Mortara down as the championship leader had started to overconsume energy – ensuring the pack at the front would become increasingly congested.

DS Techeetah twins Vergne and da Costa got themselves into the mix with the Porsches

Photo by: Simon Galloway / Motorsport Images

It took only one lap for Wehrlein to clear Vergne again, with Lotterer following him through as they mugged him at consecutive braking zones. Mortara was next in their sights, and the Porsches once again combined and posted carbon copies of their Vergne assault on the leading Venturi. The Stuttgart manufacturer now had the race in a headlock; its cars had more energy and the top two positions. To put it beyond any late challenges from the chasing pack, Porsche pulled its ace card out of its sleeve.

Once again, Wehrlein was told to pick up the pace. Bending Formula E’s timed race format to its will, Porsche wanted to push the race to 40 laps, since it knew it had the energy to make the finish. To countenance that, Lotterer was asked not to fight with Wehrlein, preserving the order and leaving it impervious to any intra-team meddling.

Wehrlein began the 39th lap with two seconds left on the clock. In that tiny margin, Porsche’s plans for a 40th lap were assured, and it put the race beyond all doubt. The following teams had cottoned on to the ploy too late to enact any meaningful energy saving, leaving Wehrlein and Lotterer to canter to the finish line – nine seconds clear of Vergne, who’d managed to see off Mortara and Robin Frijns for the final spot on the podium.

“When I passed Edo, the target was to increase the pace so that we are able to stick to our 40-lap strategy,” reflected Wehrlein, his race suit drenched in Moet’s finest bubbly. “And like you saw in the end, it was quite close – I mean, just by one or two seconds. We knew that we had more energy than the cars around, we had better pace. So I just got the call that everything is safe, and I should just focus on efficiency and try to make it to a 40-lap race.”

Wehrlein also paid tribute to Lotterer for sucking up a difficult team orders call, and acknowledged that his commitment to teamwork meant that Porsche’s dominance was made possible: “Andre did an amazing job today, there was really good teamwork. If we would have fought for positions we would have lost time and also not made it to the 40-lap race. I think the team deserves today’s result.”

Lotterer agreed that Wehrlein deserved the race win, especially given his prior misfortune in Mexico, but conceded that he was a little disappointed that he wasn’t able to bestow Porsche with its first win – again pointing at his mistake in his qualifying semi-final.

“With the mistake of qualifying, that's probably what put me in this position,” rued Lotterer. “From the beginning on, we had clear teamwork and strategy to focus on the race and not race each other. I just have to be in front next time! Congrats to Pascal, I think after the robbed win last year, he deserves it back.”

Wehrlein and Lotterer both dispatched Mortara before breaking away, while the Venturi man slid to fifth

Photo by: Alastair Staley / Motorsport Images

Porsche’s prolonging of the Mexico race didn’t affect the other frontrunners too much, with Vergne and da Costa able to cut their cloth accordingly and finish in an encouraging third and fourth. Mortara admitted that he was a little late to the party but had enough in reserve to clinch fifth.

Behind him, the race order shuffled around as if it was in the hands of a blackjack dealer. Frijns, who had impressed in his own efforts to get on the podium, began to run out of steam and dropped behind compatriot de Vries, who was the main benefactor of the late-race drama and rocketed up to sixth place despite having dropped out of the points following an iffy middle portion of the race.

“I have mixed feelings, really,” explained the reigning champion. “It was not very enjoyable racing the car; it was very tough because the kind of top five was committed to the long game. And we wanted to play the same game with them. But obviously behind us, they were quite racy. Then you get into this fight, which made it very tough to play that game.”

Oliver Rowland, in his third race at Mahindra, was one of the more notable drivers hampered by the lack of energy by the end. He’d atoned for a difficult qualifying – leaving him 16th on the grid – with his own rise through the order, before his critical energy levels forced him into simply trying to make it to the end. He finished 16th instead of eighth.

If Porsche can keep that level of performance up, the Mercedes-powered cars will not have things all their own way

The Jaguar duo of Mitch Evans and Sam Bird had also climbed up into the points after comprehensively failing to make it out of the qualifying group stage, but their team had also miscalculated and was blindsided by the extra lap. That earned a reprieve for the Nissan e.dams team, which managed to log its first points of the season after a miserable time in Saudi Arabia. Buemi had been quietly climbing the order from 18th on the grid, and his rivals’ overconsumption proved to be enough impetus to get him into the top 10, with new team-mate Maximilian Guenther in tow.

Di Grassi had originally climbed into the points too, but his clumsy contact with Vandoorne at Turn 5 rewarded the Brazilian driver with a five-second penalty that thrust Jake Dennis into 10th – the Briton admitted that a point was more than the Andretti team had perhaps deserved after struggling with his set-up throughout the day.

But just as Mercedes had marked its territory at Diriyah, Porsche planted its own flag firmly into the ground at the Mexico City race. “We showed that we mean serious business for the championship,” Lotterer reflected.

If Porsche can keep that level of performance up, the Mercedes-powered cars will not have things all their own way. Sure, Mortara extended his championship lead, but Porsche has firmly shaken the monkey off its back – and it’ll hope to build a new empire when the Formula E circus travels to Rome.

Porsche cantered to a 1-2 finish, lifting Wehrlein to third in the drivers' standings, with Porsche also occupying third in the teams' title race

Photo by: Andrew Ferraro / Motorsport Images

Can DS Techeetah join the championship battle?

There was a period in the Mexico City E-Prix that suggested Jean-Eric Vergne was in the best position to take victory. Sitting in Edoardo Mortara’s wake, Vergne was ready to coax his Techeetah machinery into making a pounce for the lead – but the strength of the Porsches proved too much to resist.

Still, in the context of the race, third was an excellent result for Vergne. Team-mate Antonio Felix da Costa also did well to pick up fourth after his earlier prang with Andre Lotterer cost him time and produced a momentary lapse down the order.

After Techeetah began the Gen2 era with three drivers’ titles on the bounce, last season proved to be a significantly more difficult year. Da Costa’s title defence only yielded eighth overall in the drivers’ standings, while double champion Vergne could only manage 10th – with one win apiece.

But 2021-22 has yielded a silver lining. Vergne has points from all three races and, as the teams continue to get acquainted with the new qualifying format, it should be noted that Techeetah has managed to get both cars into the duels in the past two races. Had the Mexico groups fallen differently, either Vergne or da Costa could have made a more significant play for a spot in the finals too.

Techeetah’s race pace, however, is arguably stronger than its speed on one lap. As a result, Vergne looks much more comfortable than he did last year, getting back to the level of performance that yielded his two titles. Da Costa is recovering too, shaking off a dire weekend at Diriyah to chalk up his first points of the season in Mexico.

There’s nothing to separate the drivers, which is a fantastic problem for Techeetah to have. Drawn against each other in the latest qualifying quarter-finals, a scant 0.011-second margin split the pair on their single-lap shootout, with Vergne just nosing ahead in the battle. If Porsche, Mercedes and Venturi show any signs of weakness across the rest of the season, Techeetah will be firmly in the frame to keep them honest.

Vergne was optimistic Techeetah can have its own day in the sun this season, expressing his delight with his first podium of the year: “We were the second-best team this weekend in Mexico, and one day it's going to be as the strongest team, and us winning.”

Vergne joined old DS Techeetah team-mate Lotterer on the podium

Photo by: Carl Bingham / Motorsport Images