Wehrlein and Porsche win in Mexico

Wehrlein and Lotterer see off Mortara

German Wehrlein qualified on pole position but knew he would come under pressure at the start from Venturi’s championship leader Edoardo Mortara, starting beside him on the front row. So it proved as Mortara made a bid for the lead from the start, only for Wehrlein to swoop right to defend his advantage into Turn 1.

The Porsche led the Venturi for the opening laps until Mortara made a successful pass on the main straight to hit the front. Wehrlein and Lotterer then came under pressure from DS Techeetah pair Jean-Eric Vergne and Antonio Felix da Costa, the latter breaking a wheel spat against the back of Wehrlein’s car in the stadium section. Vergne briefly moved up to second, but Wehrlein had been saving energy and soon charged past – then stole back the lead from Mortara with 12 minutes left of the 45-minute plus one lap race. Lotterer also passed the Swiss and shadowed his team-mate all the way to the flag to finally deliver Porsche the kind of result we’d all expected when it first joined Formula E in 2019.

Lotterer a good sport in the face of team orders

Three-time Le Mans winner Lotterer couldn’t hide his disappointment that he hadn’t been the one to score Porsche’s first win, especially as he’d saved more energy than Wehrlein who crossed the line just as his car dropped to zero per cent – perfectly judged. Porsche had told Wehrlein on his radio during the closing stages: “Just focus on pace. Don’t worry about the car behind.” It was a clear indication team orders had been called, which was perhaps understandable with so much at stake. 

It always hurts when a driver is on the end of such a team call, but 40-year-old Lotterer has been around the block a time or three. He knows the score. “Congratulations to the team and Pascal, it’s a fantastic result,” he said. “I was up on energy and for sure would have had a good opportunity to take the lead. But we worked as a team and the strategy played out very well. If I would have started in front of him it would have been the same story but the other way around. From the team perspective, it was the right call. We played it cool and really showed a strong performance together. It’s tough, but it’s the sport. I should have qualified better.”

“Oh my God, what a race! Yes!” said a delighted Wehrlein. “Man, it took a long time. But here in Mexico, it’s the best race I can imagine. It’s really satisfying. With all the history I have here in Mexico it feels amazing. The first victory for me, but also for the team. André also did an amazing job. Today was our day.”

Great race – and hardly any collisions…

Former double champion Vergne proved the best of the rest after a tight race that was impossible to call in the final moments. On a wide-open circuit, albeit on a much shorter layout than the one Formula 1 uses here, Formula E put on a great race, full of overtaking, strategic intrigue – and it was also clean, featuring not one safety car interruption and a bare minimum of contact. Yes, they can do it when they have the space to race.

“It was looking good for the win, but then the team changed the strategy and I lost a lot of positions,” said Vergne. “Obviously I was able to get them back, but not the Porsches.” The Frenchman nailed his podium finish with a fantastic pass on Mortara with a couple of minutes left on the clock. Da Costa completed a 3-4 result for DS Techeetah, with Mortara low on energy and down in fifth.

Still, that was better than others running behind him who were caught out by Porsche insisting on sticking to its strategy of running to 40 laps. As the clock ticked down to 45 minutes the two German cars could have backed off to ensure the field only needed to complete one more lap – but instead followed orders to pass the line before the time was up. That ensured two more laps would be run, and left the Jaguars of Mitch Evans and Sam Bird, plus Mahindra’s Oliver Rowland, losing points finishes as they ran out of their energy allocation before the flag. That’s the game in Formula E.

Mortara increases points lead

Despite his disappointment at not finishing higher, Mortara leaves Mexico with a slightly increased advantage in the championship standings after three rounds. He leads reigning world champion Nyck de Vries, who salvaged sixth from a difficult day’s racing, by five points, with Wehrlein and Lotterer now third and fourth on equal points and 13 behind Mortara. Stoffel Vandoorne – out of the points in 11^th in Mexico – is next, ahead of Vergne and top Brit Jake Dennis. The next rounds are a double-header in Rome on 9^th-10^th April.

Images courtesy of Motorsport Images.