How Wehrlein kicked off Formula E's new season with a statement of intent

On a weekend when Usain Bolt got to grips with a Formula E machine, the wait to officially declare a winner from the championship’s season-opening Mexico City E-Prix took a little longer than the world’s fastest man’s 9.58 seconds 100-metre world record.

In fact, it took approximately four hours after the chequered flag had fallen at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez circuit for on-the-road winner Pascal Wehrlein to be credited with victory after a post-race technical investigation. It somewhat took the shine off a performance that by any metric was dominant and a sign of intent from the Porsche driver, who is targeting an elusive maiden Formula E title in 2024.

Wehrlein led for 30 of the 37 laps, only relinquishing the lead when taking both his Attack Mode activations on laps three and six. Even then, his time away from the front was extended only by a three-lap safety car after he’d dropped to second behind main rival Sebastien Buemi.

Wehrlein remained in control throughout a race that proved to be processional by Formula E’s standards, with energy consumption not as critical as at other venues, while the thinner air that Mexico City provides meant slipstreaming was not as powerful either. But what made Wehrlein’s performance even more impressive, and could perhaps prove pivotal in the championship battle even at this early stage, was what happened several hours prior to the race.

Wehrlein had taken a crucial pole position, his first since achieving the feat at the same venue two years earlier using the Gen2 machine. Not only did it put him at the head of the pack for a race where overtaking would prove difficult, but his appearance in the final qualifying duel was his first aboard the Gen3 machine. The one-lap pace of the Porsche powertrain had been acknowledged as an Achilles’ heel by the team last season, and arguably the primary reason for Wehrlein eventually falling short of the title in a campaign that had begun so strongly.

The German led from pole in Mexico, retook the lead from Buemi when the Envision driver took his second Attack Mode immediately after the safety car pitted on lap 11, and after that remained in control. He managed a gap that generally hovered around one second and peaked as high as 2s when Buemi made a small mistake, before taking a win that never looked in doubt.

Photo by: Simon Galloway / Motorsport Images

Wehrlein was always in control of the race after beating Buemi to pole

That was until Wehrlein, along with reigning champion Jake Dennis, were placed under investigation prior to the race ending over a technical infraction that referred to ‘not respecting the homologated primary throttle pedal map’. In particular, it was the application of power at the start of the race and how both cars had launched off the line that is believed to be the information deliberated by officials before ‘no further action’ was taken well into the evening.

“I think this race is probably not so dependent on energy as some other tracks,” reflected Wehrlein. “I would say it’s one of the more difficult tracks to overtake so qualifying actually matters here. And I think until the moment when Buemi did the mistake it was pretty close.

“Buemi was there, [Maximilian] Guenther was there, [Nick] Cassidy was there. Cassidy actually had a lot of energy, a bit more than all of us, but once Buemi did a mistake it opened up a small gap for me which then I could control when he was out of my slipstream, but in general we had very good pace.

"Just not enough confidence under braking was our biggest issue. We’ve been struggling with that since Friday FP1 and we’ve paid the price in qualifying" Jake Dennis

“I definitely have a good feeling [about qualifying pace], and already during testing and the end of last season it was clear that we made steps forward, but obviously Mexico, it’s somehow a special track for us. That’s why I’m a bit cautious, but hopefully we can confirm the good performance in qualifying on other tracks.”

While Wehrlein had been able to showcase the true potential of the Porsche powertrain and take the fight to the Jaguar-powered cars, Dennis – driving for the customer Andretti Porsche team – was left frustrated with the beginning of his title defence. A small lock-up into the Turn 5 hairpin on his final qualifying group effort scuppered any chance of the Briton progressing to the duels and he was left to line up 14th, one spot behind new team-mate Norman Nato, who had his best lap deleted for track limits. With overtaking at a premium, progress for both was restricted and ultimately Dennis was only able to salvage ninth, just ahead of Nato.

“Just not enough confidence under braking was our biggest issue,” sighed Dennis. “We’ve been struggling with that since Friday FP1 and we’ve paid the price in qualifying.”

It meant the main threat to Wehrlein fell to Jaguar and customer powertrain user Envision, with the Big Cat carrying over its impressive form from last term into the new campaign. The Jaguars of Mitch Evans and Cassidy, as well as Envision pair Buemi and Robin Frijns, had featured towards the top of the times in practice, and all four reached the duels in qualifying. But, for one reason or another, their chances of victory slipped away on a weekend when many had expected one of the four to stand on the top step of the podium.

Photo by: Simon Galloway / Motorsport Images

As in the first year of Formula E's Gen3 rules, Jaguar powertrains put up the stiffest resistance to Porsche

After defending against Guenther into Turn 1 at the start of the race and briefly leading during the Attack Mode activation phase, Buemi shadowed Wehrlein to the finish. Always a constant presence, he was unable to force the leader into a mistake or get close enough to attempt an overtaking move, before deciding to settle on the runner-up spot with Wehrlein under investigation.

“The idea was to stay behind Pascal and save a bit of energy,” explained Buemi. “I think I got a bit unlucky with the Attack Mode. I didn’t manage to take both Attack Modes very quickly and then with the safety car the gap came back to zero, so then I had to spend energy to make sure I could build a bit of a gap to Guenther and make sure I wouldn’t lose a position.

“After that I was obviously trying to be as efficient as I could and I made a pretty big mistake and lost a bit of time, but then towards the end I kept under consuming. I had the pace to catch Pascal, but then it’s so hard to pass I would have needed to take so much risk that I was not really willing to do that. At the same time the team told me he was under investigation, so I thought I’d try to bring home P2 and see what happens.”

Buemi’s former Envision team-mate Cassidy took third on his debut with Jaguar, and was the only frontrunner to make a place up from his starting position, at the expense of Guenther. But the Kiwi was left to question whether he might have been able to challenge for the win were it not for a one-place grid drop that both he and team-mate Evans were handed.

This was after a red-flag infringement in Friday’s practice session, when both drivers, along with DS Penske’s Stoffel Vandoorne, failed to enter their garages on returning to the pits as demanded in a new regulation for this year. The loss of position meant Cassidy spent the first half of the race behind Guenther and unable to pressure the leading duo at a pivotal point of the race during the Attack Mode activation phase.

“I feel this was probably my most complete day I’ve ever put together in Formula E and it’s a really good start with Jaguar,” proclaimed Cassidy. “I honestly didn’t really feel connected with the package this weekend, I struggled a lot and so to have this result is a really nice start. I think the penalty that dropped us back one spot probably really hurt the outcome of being able to challenge for the win, but I can’t complain – it’s a nice start for us as a team.”

An outlier in the Porsche and Jaguar battle had been Guenther in the Maserati MSG. He started third, and only lost that position due to not using both Attack Modes prior to the safety car, in a similar scenario to Buemi. But having lost the spot to Cassidy, the German thereafter was able to stay with the leading trio and took a strong fourth, giving hope that Maserati MSG might be able to disrupt the title narrative between Jaguar and Porsche.

Photo by: Sam Bagnall / Motorsport Images

Best of the rest honours went the way of Maserati MSG's Guenther, who chased Buemi early on and lost out to Cassidy through Attack Mode

More than 7s behind the leading group, Evans claimed fifth after suffering with a steering issue midway through the race that meant he struggled for pace, so turned his attention to holding position.

“I’ve never experienced it before, but the steering weight was super-heavy, and I was locking up at some of the corners and I was just struggling to turn the wheel,” recounted Evans. “It’s the most bizarre feeling. It’s frustrating and I’m annoyed. The one-lap pace today has been strong; we set the fastest [outright] lap in the duels.”

Evans was not the only Jaguar powertrain user to suffer problems, with Frijns in the second Envision car having an even worse afternoon. The Dutchman failed to launch off the line due to an unknown technical problem that meant a momentary but complete loss of power. It dropped him from seventh to well down the order, before a spin as a result of handling problems sent him into the barriers at Turn 18 on lap eight, bringing out the race’s sole caution period while his stranded car was recovered.

Dan Ticktum was last of the classified finishers after going for a super-aggressive energy saving tactic with his ERT in the hope of a second safety car

DS Penske’s Jean-Eric Vergne had probed Evans’s defences continuously for the second half of the race but was unable to find an opening, and headed a train of drivers that included McLaren’s Jake Hughes, team-mate Vandoorne and both Andretti drivers. Just outside the points was Oliver Rowland on his return to Nissan. He made up the most places in the race – nine, after starting 20th – with team-mate Sacha Fenestraz directly behind.

The pair headed Edoardo Mortara (Mahindra), Sam Bird (McLaren) and Formula E returnee Nyck de Vries (Mahindra), while Jehan Daruvala finished 16th in his first Formula E race with Maserati MSG. Abt Mahindra racer Nico Muller finished 17th despite colliding heavily with the wall after contact with Antonio Felix da Costa’s Porsche, while Dan Ticktum was last of the classified finishers after going for a super-aggressive energy saving tactic with his ERT in the hope of a second safety car.

As expected, the formbook from last year looks likely to remain the same in 2024. But with a breakthrough in qualifying and one-lap pace, Porsche and Wehrlein could well deliver on a partnership that has promised so much in the past.

Photo by: Sam Bagnall / Motorsport Images

Can the master of Mexico continue his form into the remainder of the Formula E season?