Formula E

Wehrlein leads breakthrough Porsche Formula E 1-2 in Mexico

by Matt Beer
7 min read

Porsche finally scored its first Formula E victory as Pascal Wehrlein led team-mate Andre Lotterer in a 1-2 at Mexico City.

In the first half of the race it seemed that Porsche was on course for another race pace capitulation as championship leader Edoardo Mortara thrust his Venturi Mercedes past polesitter Wehrlein into the lead at the start of lap seven. Both Wehrlein and Lotterer were also demoted by Jean-Eric Vergne during the attack mode sequences.

But rather than continuing to fall back, the Porsches rallied late on as they had conserved more energy than most of the opposition.

With a quarter of an hour of the race to go, Wehrlein and Lotterer went past first Vergne in quick succession than leader Mortara to assume a 1-2 formation.

As a wild variety of useable energy situations played out in their wake – not helped by Wehrlein extending the race distance by one lap by crossing the line one second before the 45-minute cut-off – the Porsches simply stormed clear and crossed the line 9s clear of their rivals.

Wehrlein’s long awaited first FE victory came in the nation where he’d twice been denied before: pipped on the finish line by Lucas di Grassi at Mexico City in 2019 when racing for Mahindra, and then disqualified on a technicality after winning at Puebla with Porsche last year.

Lotterer – who is still to win in FE – tucked in behind his team-mate for the final laps and guaranteed Porsche its 1-2, making clear he had held back from challenging.

Vergne and DS Techeetah duo Antonio Felix da Costa fought back through to third and fourth as Mortara and Robin Frijns fell back to fifth and seventh having been fighting for the last podium spot until the closing laps. Mortara continues to lead the points.

The works Mercedes again lacked race pace, with reigning champion Nyck de Vries shuffled right outside the points for a while. He recovered to sixth as others ran low on energy, but a late collision with Lucas di Grassi left his team-mate Stoffel Vandoorne classified 11th.

Di Grassi had contact with Maximilian Guenther, Nick Cassidy and Vandoorne on the way to eighth on the road for Venturi, with a 5s penalty for the last incident dropping him to 12th.

That meant Nissan team-mates Sebastien Buemi and Guenther, and Andretti driver Jake Dennis completed the scorers.

Mahindra’s Oliver Rowland and Jaguar pair Mitch Evans and Sam Bird had all made late charges into the points only to run dramatically low on energy when the race went onto its surprise extra lap. They plunged down the order.

Formula 1 convert Antonio Giovinazzi showed stronger pace than in Saudi Arabia but retired at half-distance after an early pit visit.

Race Results

Pos Name Team Car Laps Laps Led Total Time Fastest Lap Pitstops Pts
1 Pascal Wehrlein TAG Heuer Porsche Porsche 99X Electric 40 20 47m20.404s 1m10.334s 0 28
2 André Lotterer TAG Heuer Porsche Porsche 99X Electric 40 0 +0.302s 1m10.196s 0 18
3 Jean-Eric Vergne DS Techeetah DS E-Tense FE21 40 0 +9.051s 1m09.912s 0 15
4 AntĂłnio FĂ©lix da Costa DS Techeetah DS E-Tense FE21 40 0 +9.975s 1m09.879s 0 12
5 Edoardo Mortara RokIt Venturi Racing Mercedes-EQ Silver Arrow 02 40 20 +18.356s 1m10.188s 0 10
6 Nyck de Vries Mercedes-Benz EQ Mercedes-EQ Silver Arrow 02 40 0 +19.02s 1m09.877s 0 9
7 Robin Frijns Envision Racing Audi e-tron FE07 40 0 +20.232s 1m10.08s 0 6
8 SĂ©bastien Buemi Nissan e.Dams Nissan IM03 40 0 +23.394s 1m10.269s 0 4
9 Maximilian GĂĽnther Nissan e.Dams Nissan IM03 40 0 +26.497s 1m10.155s 0 2
10 Jake Dennis Avalanche Andretti BMW iFE.021 40 0 +26.829s 1m10.228s 0 1
11 Stoffel Vandoorne Mercedes-Benz EQ Mercedes-EQ Silver Arrow 02 40 0 +27.086s 1m09.753s 0 0
12 Lucas Di Grassi RokIt Venturi Racing Mercedes-EQ Silver Arrow 02 40 0 +27.525s 1m09.487s 0 0
13 Nick Cassidy Envision Racing Audi e-tron FE07 40 0 +28.794s 1m09.647s 0 0
14 Oliver Turvey Nio 333 Racing NIO 333 001 40 0 +32.978s 1m09.49s 0 0
15 Sam Bird Jaguar TCS Racing Jaguar I-TYPE 5 40 0 +35.677s 1m10.126s 0 0
16 Oliver Rowland Mahindra Racing Mahindra M7Electro 40 0 +36.047s 1m09.889s 0 0
17 Oliver Askew Avalanche Andretti BMW iFE.021 40 0 +36.395s 1m10.372s 0 0
18 Daniel Ticktum Nio 333 Racing NIO 333 001 40 0 +44.607s 1m10.49s 0 0
19 Mitch Evans Jaguar TCS Racing Jaguar I-TYPE 5 40 0 +1m02.458s 1m10.09s 0 0
20 Sérgio Sette Câmara Dragon / Penske Autosport Penske EV-5 40 0 +1m21.406s 1m10.443s 0 0
Antonio Giovinazzi Dragon / Penske Autosport Penske EV-5 21 0 DNF 1m10.577s 0 0
Alexander Sims Mahindra Racing Mahindra M7Electro 1 0 DNF 0s 0 0
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