Pascal Wehrlein has for the first time shared his view of the accident that left him upside-down in his Porsche and the Sao Paulo E-Prix stopped as a result last Saturday.
The reigning champion detailed to The Race today how he feared he might get struck by another competitor whilst inverted and that he “just wanted to get out of the car as quickly as possible” because “my biggest fear was a fire or the car being 'live' [a potential electrical hazard]".
The accident began at Turn 4 when Wehrlein “set myself up to be on the inside for Turn 5”. As this took place, Nick Cassidy - the other participant in the crash - had to check his speed in this complex of corners and found himself vulnerable to the following DS Penske of Max Guenther.
Contact between that pair bent Cassidy’s steering arm and on the exit of the chicane the Jaguar was unable to turn normally and inadvertently launched Wehrlein into the wall and onto its roll hoop.
“My first concern was that somebody could hit me from behind, which is why I wanted the red flags to come out immediately,” said Wehrlein.
“A situation like that is obviously much more dangerous when a car is upside down.”
Wehrlein was heard in real time conversing with his engineer Fabrice Roussel, stating that was not hurt but also repeating to Roussel to "send someone fast, I can't get out”.
The medical car and extraction team arrived on the scene within minutes of Wehrlein’s accident and set about getting him out of the upturned Porsche 99X Electric but this was a complicated process that took careful planning at the same time as ascertaining if Wehrlein had any injuries.
“The extraction team wants to know whether you are okay, they want to know whether you feel any pain and, if so, in which area of your body and so on,” said Wehrlein.
“They are absolute professionals, and I am glad we have them.
"But even though it was quite a shock, I felt like I was very conscious about my body, and as I didn’t feel any broken bones or so on, we focused quite quickly on turning the car around and getting me out in a safe and cautious manner.”
Wehrlein also praised the overall strength of the car, particularly the halo, the cockpit safety and the advancement in driver specific equipment, too, saying that “it’s very likely that I would not have walked away from it like this without the halo".
“But it’s not just about the halo," he added, "it’s the combination of all the different things that make these cars so safe these days. Halo, the safety cell, harnesses, helmet and so on.
“Plus, the other element is the quick help you get after something has happened. This was another reminder that we should never stop improving the safety in our sport.”
Should've won?
Wehrlein was set to receive his official Formula E world championship trophy at the annual gala dinner in Kigali, Rwanda this evening but has been unable to fly on doctors' advice post-Sao Paulo accident.
It will be a trophy which he has a very good shot of retaining this season on the evidence of the opening round in Brazil last weekend.
Wehrlein took a thrilling pole position from Oliver Rowland - and while that appeared impressive, his rivals may now soberly reflect that the run actually included several mistakes and masked the true potential of the Porsche 99X Electric.
“It definitely wasn’t one of my best qualifying sessions,” said Wehrlein.
“There were a few tiny mistakes on my laps, just not completely satisfying, I would say. Therefore, I wouldn’t rank it very high. But we were still fast, which is good.”
Despite being jumped off the line by a flying Rowland, Wehrlein had a solid start to the race and was firmly in contention for the victory in the closing stages before his accident.
“Under normal circumstances, I think we could have fought for the win,” he summarised.
“Our pace was quite strong and strategically everything went well. However, the first red flag didn’t exactly play into our hands and it would have been difficult from there on. But we were definitely good for a podium even after that.”
Wehrlein heads to Mexico City, a track he has won at twice in the last three years, 22 points in arrears to one of his 2023-24 title rivals Mitch Evans, who took his Jaguar to a sensational last-to-first victory in Sao Paulo.
Photos by Spacesuit Media and Hugo Morales
