Championship points leader Pascal Wehrlein will start today’s first Berlin E-Prix with a new chassis after legacy damage from his Hyderabad practice accident in February.
The shunt, which briefly hospitalised the Porsche driver, was believed to have been caused by a corruption in the software used for the spec LED lights provided to teams and resulted in a stuck throttle scenario sending him violently into a wall.
Although his Porsche 99X Electric chassis was given all clear after the accident a subsequent ultrasound of it carried out in the Berlin paddock on Thursday resulted in an overnight change of tub after a small crack was found on the right front.
Porsche team principal, Florian Modlinger told The Race that “the common parts supplier (Spark) checked the monocoque here with an ultrasound check which was performed on the monocoque”.
He continued: “There was a small part that needs to be checked in the factory.
“Therefore, the monocoque was changed, the monocoque from Hyderabad is now going back to the manufacturer. There will be checks performed and a repair, and if it is signed off and OK, we’ll get back the monocoque. That’s the process.”
When asked if Wehrlein had felt any issues with the car in the subsequent races in Cape Town and Sao Paulo, Modlinger said that “ he did mention some feelings in the car, we could not see anything in data, we wanted to be sure and therefore the check was done here”.
Porsche has reverted to the communal spare chassis it shares with the Avalanche Andretti squad. It could utilise the repaired chassis as a spare from Monaco onwards.
Porsche will not receive a penalty for the safety-orientated survival cell change but has been fined for breaking the mandatory curfew from Thursday night into Friday morning.
Mahindra’s Oliver Rowland also changed the chassis in his Mahindra M9Electro package ahead of the second free practice session held this morning.
It is not yet clear if Rowland will serve any penalties because of the change.
‘Possible consequences are pending. There will be a final decision of the stewards after receiving the final report.’
It remains unclear if the change is related to the rear suspension issues that led to all four Mahindra’s being withdrawn from the Cape Town E-Prix in late February.
