Why Porsche and Wehrlein are ‘starting from zero’ in quest for more glory

When Pascal Wehrlein prevailed in a three-way, winner-takes-all title fight at the final round of season 10 just five months ago, his superb drive and championship win showcased his abilities to their very best and proved why the German was once on the books of Mercedes.

Wehrlein’s journey to the Formula E crown had been a long and winding one. He joined the series in 2018 with something of a point to prove after failing to make his mark in Formula 1, first with Manor and then Sauber, which somewhat diminished his achievement of becoming the youngest champion in DTM history in 2015.

Since he joined Porsche in 2021, the partnership has developed and ultimately flourished last season. And despite technical regulation changes initially threatening to flip the pecking order, it shows every possibility of continuing.

Wehrlein and Porsche enter the 2024-25 Formula E World Championship, which gets under way this weekend in Sao Paulo – before a further 15 races at nine different locations take place in 2025 – as the combination to beat.

With the monkey now off his back and the lingering shadow of doubt cast aside, the 30-year-old could well be entering his prime, having proven to himself and any doubters that he’s capable of beating all comers.

“I would say a bit more relaxed than in the past having done it, but the important thing is the hunger is still the same to do it again,” Wehrlein asserts. “It starts from zero now, whatever happened last year doesn’t affect the next season.

“I just want to enjoy having a very strong team behind me and having a car where I can show my talent, and I think we have everything to win all three [driver, manufacturer and team championships].

Wehrlein is out to defend his title with Porsche

Photo by: Sam Bagnall / Motorsport Images

“In the end, everyone else will try the same and as we know in Formula E the competition is very close, but I think in terms of package, we have what it needs, and now we just need to optimise and make the best out of it. But for sure it’s not guaranteed that we will win any championships. We still need to work really hard and have a clean season.”

A clean season is almost what Wehrlein achieved last term. He registered just two non-scores in 16 races – at Misano and Shanghai, both after damaging his front wing, an issue that may now be a thing of the past courtesy of a sturdier front element on the new Gen3 Evo cars.

But the challenge facing Wehrlein and Porsche is one that only Jean-Eric Vergne has been able to conquer in 10 years of the championship’s history – winning consecutive drivers’ titles. Remarkably, Vergne’s achievement spanned the Gen1 and Gen2 eras and, while the introduction of the Gen3 Evo is more evolution than revolution, it still poses a significant challenge with the addition of all-wheel-drive (AWD), a more temperamental tyre and the Pit Boost concept (see panels).

“I do not say, and never will be confident, in such a highly competitive series because what you won last year, there’s no guarantee for the future” Florian Modlinger, Porsche team principal

One area that affects Porsche is that it now supplies powertrains to a second customer team in the form of the newly rebranded Kiro squad. It will also continue supplying Andretti as it has done since 2023, meaning Porsche is the only factory effort to provide services for two customer teams.

That creates extra work, but also more data to tap into. “In the ramp-up phase, it’s clearly a disadvantage because we do not have the resources, or we need to stretch the resources a lot to get everything ready,” admits team principal Florian Modlinger, “but long term for sure we try to get an advantage out of that.”

Quite how much impact that ramp-up phase has had on the efforts of the factory team as well as the car’s development remains to be seen, but it certainly didn’t seem to hinder Porsche during pre-season testing last month.

The Jarama circuit, which was a last-minute stand-in venue due to the devastating flooding in Valencia that has claimed the lives of more than 200 people, was a welcome surprise to drivers and teams. Its high-speed, cambered corners along with an abrasive surface was quite different to other layouts featured on the upcoming FE schedule, while the uncapped use of AWD and the performance benefit of fresh tyres somewhat muddied the waters when it came to the leaderboard.

The reigning champion ended Jarama testing with the third fastest time overall

Photo by: Malcolm Griffiths / Motorsport Images

Even so, Wehrlein finished the test with the third fastest outright time and led home a Porsche 1-2 in the simulation race, with team-mate Antonio Felix da Costa insisting the team was “just replicating this test as close as we can to a race weekend”.

Modlinger adds: “When I look around, some manufacturers have a big update, but we developed our complete powertrain also further. This means we looked in every dedicated area, checked for potential where it makes sense to spend the resources and the money, and we touched nearly every part of the powertrain from inverter, motor to the differential and also the suspension. This means little updates, but I hope effective updates in all areas.”

This season will be Porsche’s sixth campaign in FE, during which time it has noticeably made steady and consistent progress, moving from eighth in the first two years to just missing out on the teams’ title most recently. The manufacturer is, of course, no stranger to success. And, with the taste of one FE championship, there’s every reason to suspect it will be leading the charge for even more trophies this season.

“Gen3 [new in 2023] was the first time that Porsche was there from the beginning of a generation and that season was already successful,” points out Modlinger. “We had still some weaknesses, the qualifying performance, and for last season we improved the weakness.

“We were good for wins with both drivers, and we want to be good for wins every year. I do not say, and never will be confident, in such a highly competitive series because what you won last year, there’s no guarantee for the future. This means heads down, full focus, extract the best and the most potential of all areas, and then let’s see where we are.”

Will Wehrlein, Da Costa and Porsche keep the chasing pack at bay?

Photo by: Porsche