Pascal Wehrlein heads into this weekend’s season-opening Mexico City E-Prix confident that the TAG Heuer Porsche Formula E Team have prepared “intensively and improved in all areas”, giving him another chance at fighting for the title.
Season 9 was a weird one for Wehrlein in many ways, considering that he ended the first year of the Gen3 era fourth in the Drivers’ Championship, despite having led the standings for just over three months.
Wehrlein led the championship for the vast majority of the first half of 2023, following three consecutive podiums in the first three races. His 2023 campaign started with a P2 finish in Mexico City, a result he’d love to repeat this Saturday. The German had brilliant race pace in the Mexican capital 12 months ago and would’ve challenged Jake Dennis for victory had he gotten through the leading drivers quicker.
His sixth-place start was actually one of his best qualifying performances in Season 9, with poor one-lap pace arguably being what lost him the crown. Too often last year, Wehrlein failed to progress into the duels, consistently leaving him with too much work to do.
When it came to energy management and general race pace, Wehrlein was up there with the very best. If he can qualify closer to the front, then he will be a serious title contender, as will Porsche.
It does appear that one-lap pace has been worked on during the off-season, Wehrlein was eighth quickest during last October’s pre-season test, whilst teammate António Félix da Costa was second.
The 29-year-old is very excited to be heading to Mexico City to finally get Season 10 underway, although he openly admits that Porsche must “do better” this season in qualifying. He’s confident the German manufacturer will “achieve this”.
“This race kicks off the season on a real high note. The track is spectacular and the fans create an electric atmosphere. Mexico has always been good for us,” Wehrlein said.
“The conditions are tricky because the air is very thin at this altitude, which feels like double the effort. The downforce in fast corners and braking is also not quite as high. But our team is excellently placed for the season. We’ve used the preparation time intensively and improved in all areas.
“We had a very strong car in season 9 but didn’t always get everything right in qualifying. We have to do better this time. I’m certain that we’ll achieve this.”
