Pascal Wehrlein not giving up on Formula E title hopes ahead of Tokyo E-Prix
As the 2024/25 Formula E season reaches its midpoint on Sunday, Pascal Wehrlein reflects on the season so far and his chances of becoming a double world champion.
Porsche driver Pascal Wehrlein is not giving up hope of defending his Formula E title, despite facing a mounting deficit to Nissan rival Oliver Rowland in the drivers’ standings.
In-form Rowland finished first and second across the two races in Monaco earlier this month to pull out a 48-point lead over Antonio Felix da Costa in the championship, with Wehrlein sitting another point adrift in third place.
Rowland has scored victories in three out of the seven races so far, plus two additional podiums, while Wehrlein has mustered just a single victory in the 2024/25 season.
The German’s title bid has been compromised by an accident in the Sao Paulo opener that left him in the hospital and another collision in Jeddah that forced him to make an unscheduled pitstop to replace a punctured tyre. He wasn’t to blame in either of the two incidents.
Speaking ahead of this weekend’s Tokyo E-Prix, Wehrlein described his position in the championship standings as a “good achievement” given the number of points he lost at the beginning of the season.
“Considering how our season went so far, I think third is a good position for all the bad luck, the incident in Sao Paulo, the incident in Jeddah,” he said.
“Just didn't have a clear run yet. Therefore to fight back again until P3, just missing one point to the second spot, it's a good achievement but obviously, we want to fight for the championship. Therefore, we need to collect as many points as possible from now.”
Wehrlein admitted that he and Porsche need to “step up our game” to close the gap to Rowland, but feels the title fight is not over yet.
Asked if it is possible to hunt down his Nissan rival in the second half of the season, the ex-DTM and Formula 1 driver said: “Yeah, it's very possible. Still nine races to go.
“Things can change quickly in Formula E. Before Monaco we had only been 14 points down, so just with a very good weekend that will shrink massively.
“But we are not underestimating our competitors, especially Nissan and Ollie. They are very strong this year and for sure we need to step up our game if we want to challenge him in the drivers' championship.”
Nissan has jumped to the front of the pecking order at the start of Formula E’s Gen3 Evo era, with the Japanese brand leading both the drivers’ and the manufacturers’ standings.
Porsche does hold the top spot in the teams’ standings but that is largely down to Norman Nato underperforming in the second factory Nissan entry.
Wehrlein believes the Porsche package has lacked the same consistency that has allowed Nissan to pull away from the rest of the competition.
“I feel like for us it has been a bit more up and down with the performance,” he explained.
“We still manage to be in the top five and the top seven regularly in terms of raw pace but they just seem to always be at the front.
“Definitely, there is a bit of work to do. I also feel like on tyres' side, in Monaco for example, [we] really struggled to get any temperatures in the tyres and just to make it work somehow. Therefore in certain areas we need to improve.”
