German driver from Porsche dominates the first ePrix of the 2024 World Championship, taking the 1st position in the race to the “pole position”. Félix da Costa after collision…
German driver Pascal Wehrlein, in the Porsche 9XX Electric, is under investigation by the FIA stewards’ team for suspected technical infringement in the car, which could still lead to a “theatrical twist”. He won the Mexico City ePrix, the 1st round of the 2024 Formula E World Championship, achieving his 5th victory in the category and his 2nd in the capital of the North American country.
Wehrlein, also the fastest driver in qualifying, scored 28 points in Mexico and took the lead in the championship he joined in 2019, after a discreet stint in Formula 1 (2016 and 2017) with the Manor and Sauber teams. The German, 4th in the 2023 Formula E World Championship, has not won any titles since 2015, the season of his victory in the German Touring Car Championship (DTM).
Today, at a packed Autódromo Hermano Rodríguez – Formula E uses only part of the circuit included in the Formula 1 World Championship calendar! – with over 40,000 fans in the stands, most of them positioned at the Foro Sol, Wehrlein temporarily relinquished the lead of the ePrix to Sébastien Buemi (Envision) after activating the Attack Mode, which unleashes the maximum power of the electric cars.
If the result is confirmed, Wehrlein will win in Formula E for the first time since race 10 of the 2023 championship in Jakarta, Indonesia, and will achieve his 8th podium in the category, in 65 ePrix. António Félix da Costa had a (very) unlucky day compared to his teammate and retired on lap 3 after colliding with the ABT Cupra of Swiss driver Nico Müller, braking for turn 4 of the Mexican circuit, when the two drivers were fighting for 15th position.
“It was not the start of the year I had hoped for, but the 16th place in qualifying forced me to take more risks in the race, exposing myself to this kind of setback. We have to react in the next race, in two weeks, in Saudi Arabia”, said Félix da Costa. Rounds 2 and 3 of the Formula E World Championship will take place on the 26th and 27th, respectively, at the Riyadh Street Circuit (Diriyah), which will host the first of the six double-header weekends on the 2024 calendar.
In Mexico City, Sébastien Buemi (Envision) finished in 2nd place and Nick Cassidy (Jaguar) in 3rd. The defending champion, Jake Dennis (Andretti), was never in contention for a repeat of his 2023 victory and finished in 9th place.
