Mexico City E-Prix 2021-22: Wehrlein's Sweet Revenge
Pascal Wehrlein (copyright FIA Formula E)
It’s incredible in some ways that the most recent win for Pascal Wehrlein prior to the Mexico City E-Prix was the 2015 Moscow DTM race for Mercedes. A driver of this talent should not have to wait around so long for all the cards to come up for him. This masterful victory was claimed on a track where the German driver had narrowly missed out once betore, and marks a remarkable turnaround in the fortunes of Porsche.
The Weissach team is committed to taking part in the Gen3 rules era of Formula E, while Formula One continues to hold attractions for a company that views that championship as unfinished business, and there is also the small matter of a forthcoming return to top-level sportscar racing in the LMDh category. It’s a crowded slate.
Therefore, this sudden change of pace from the Porsche Formula E car, which had struggled badly in Diriyah two weeks prior, to a dominant leader in Mexico, could be vital when the board assesses “what have you done for me lately?” of Formula E. It came after the sudden exit of previous team principal Amiel Lindesay after Diriyah.
The Taycan is outselling all other Porsches, but that might be the case with or without Formula E. The category has to present a return on investment for its manufacturers, and for Porsche, there’s nothing better, or more redolent of the marque’s glorious Le Mans past, than a 1-2 finish with both cars in the same shot.
The race started cleanly enough, with the Mercedes of Stoffel Vandoorne making gains after a tough qualifying session for his team. On the second lap the Mahindra of Alexander Sims was again involved in a race-ending incident, while the Porsches, Wehrlein and Andre Lotterer, held second and third behind the leading Venturi of Edoardo Mortara.
With 16 minutes and one lap remaining it became clear that the Porsches, which had been conservative in their movements early on, had 2% more usable energy than Mortara. The Swiss did not defend as Wehrlein, then Lotterer, passed on the same lap, going on to pull out a very un-Formula E nine-second lead by the closing laps.
Jean-Eric Vergne had beaten his DS Techeetah teammate Antonio Felix da Costa by 0.011 seconds in a thrilling qualifying duel; the Frenchman held the upper hand in the race, but the two played a strong team game, also passing Mortara as he became more concerned with saving energy in the latter stages.
On the final lap Lotterer, instructed by his pit to hold station, closed up to the diffuser of Wehrlein, trying to prove he could overtake if he were permitted, it seemed. Nevertheless, the two heeded team orders. It meant Wehrlein finally avenged both his loss at the line of the Mexico City victory in the 2018-19 season, and the unfortunate events of Puebla 2020-21, when his car’s FIA Technical Passport was not up-to-date. So far ahead were they, that they could afford to coast through an extra lap, costing the Jaguar pair of Mitch Evans and Sam Bird their races.
We’re used to a wide-open title race in Formula E, but Porsche stamped their intent on the category with this level of domination, and a perfect tactical display.
The final top ten was Wehrlein, Lotterer, Vergne, and da Costa, from Mortara, Nyck de Vries in the Mercedes, Robin Frijns’ Envision, and the Nissan e.dams cars of Sebastien Buemi and Max Günther, whose lack of pace is covered in an article on Motion E+. Jake Dennis was given 10th for Andretti after Lucas di Grassi was handed a five-second time penalty for a clash with Stoffel Vandoorne.
Amended to correct the top ten after penalties were applied.