Following a wide-open battle that boiled down to the very last race of the 2024 season, Pascal Wehrlein officially penned his name in the motorsport history books, emerging victorious as the 2024 Formula E World Champion.
With a margin of just seven points between Wehrlein and runner-up Mitch Evans, Wehrlein’s maiden title was a hard-earned victory — not only on the track, but in the way that it has seen Wehrlein triumph over the hardest moments in his career.
The lead of the 2024 championship passed from driver to driver like a hot potato this season. With his victory at the season opener in Mexico, Wehrlein carved out an early advantage for himself.
This lead was soon taken from him by Jaguar’s Nick Cassidy, who hit the ground running in his first few races with the British team, claiming two podiums and a win in the first three rounds of the season.
After Mexico, Wehrlein hit a bit of a dry spell, taking points but not podiums, even despite starting from pole position at the Sao Paulo E-Prix. But soon, another win would follow the first, with Wehrlein taking to the top step of the podium at the second round of the Misano E-Prix.
Though not on the podium as often as his fellow championship contenders, Wehrlein remained consistent, scoring solid points more often than not. Finally, Wehrlein took a podium at Round 11 of the season in Shanghai, keeping himself within reach of the title.
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From race to race, city to city, the championship battle remained impossibly tight, and it would eventually all boil down to the final destination of the season: a double-header around the London ExCeL circuit.
Formula E headed to the penultimate race of the season with a three-way battle for the championship crown. It was Cassidy who led the standings, holding a margin of just 12 points over Mitch Evans and Pascal Wehrlein, the pair sitting on equal points with one another.
Victorious at the 2024 London E-Prix
A remarkable strategic drive from Wehrlein saw the Porsche drive take the win at the first round of the London E-Prix, springing himself ahead of Cassidy and Evans. Evans was still hot on Wehrlein’s heels, though, having finished just behind him in second.
Despite a close battle, it was Wehrlein who came out on top yet again, with a P2 finish to Evans’ P3. Once more, Wehrlein proved himself commendably consistent, even despite the pressure that sat on his shoulders ahead of the final race of the season.
Reflecting on the challenges that he faced throughout the London race weekend, Wehrlein acknowledged the strong performance put in by both himself and the Porsche team.
“We knew coming here that we had a fair chance,” Wehrlein told select media after the race, including Total-Motorsport.com. “We were probably not the favourites, as we never performed super well on this track, so we knew we had to put everything together.
“You need to have clean laps in qualifying, trying to outperform what the car probably can do here, and execute perfectly in the race. And I think that’s exactly what we did. Super proud of the whole team.”
A tried and true partnership
Season 10 of the Formula E championship marked Wehrlein’s fourth year with the German team. After a two-year stint with Mahindra, Wehrlein made the move to Porsche in 2020, first partnering Andre Lotterer, before Antonio Felix da Costa joined the team in 2022.
From Wehrlein’s first Formula E win in 2021, to his unsuccessful championship challenge in 2022, Wehrlein feels his championship win is a culmination of both his and the team’s long-standing partnership.
“Year to year we’ve improved,” said Wehrlein. “I’ve been around with Porsche since four years, and definitely all the hard work we’ve put in together, all the effort, all the tough time we also had together has finally paid off.”
Redemption for Wehrlein
In many ways, Wehrlein’s maiden World Championship carries with it a real sense of redemption.
Last season saw Wehrlein take a shot at the title, asserting dominance in the early part of the season with a podium at the season opener and back-to-back wins at Rounds 2 and 3 in Diriyah. But his early championship charge soon fell away from him, a spell of poor results seeing Wehrlein finish only fourth overall in the standings.
Wehrlein’s championship win is a victory made that bit sweeter when one considers the difficult moments he overcame to reach this position.
Like all drivers, the 29-year-old’s motorsports career has had its fair shares of ups and downs — though none more notable from his premature departure from Formula 1 at the end of 2017, following just two seasons on the F1 grid.
But it’s not something Wehrlein dwells on too often. And though a championship title carries with it immense weight, it’s not the be-all and end-all for the German driver.
“I’m not thinking too much about the past,” said Wehrlein. “I know I can drive cars quite good. Sometimes it goes away. Sometimes it doesn’t. Sometimes, life seems more fair, sometimes a bit less, but I think we are all in a very fortunate situation.
“Nevertheless, what happened in the past or not, to me, the best thing is, life is my daughter and my family and that is above everything else.”
