“Even when we were 20 points behind, I said we can turn it around,” Pascal Wehrlein, 2023-24 Formula E World Champion

The Tag Heuer Porsche Formula E team stormed into this season with a bang, immediately setting themselves up as title contenders. But the Jaguars of Mitch Evans and Nick Cassidy weren’t far behind. The competition was so close that it came down to the last race to decide who would win the crown. Pascal Wehrlein, however, wasn’t letting this one go. With a level head, he made his strategy stick and brought home the driver’s championship win.

We had the opportunity to sit down with Pascal Wehrlein to get an in-depth look at the season that was. Pascal opened up about the pressure and thrill of racing at the highest level, the pivotal moments that defined their campaign, and the unwavering belief that kept him and the team pushing forward. He also shed light on his personal journey through the highs and lows, the critical strategies employed, and his future goals.

As told to Mohit Vashisth

Q: You seemed incredibly calm throughout the whole weekend. Do you feel that there was a little bit less pressure on yourself than there was on the Jaguar drivers because they seem to have been given the status of favourites?

A: I don’t think that we had less pressure than anyone else because I think realistically it was clear that under more normal circumstances there are three drivers in contention for the title. I think if things had gone a bit crazy, maybe there would have been four or five drivers before that weekend but realistically it was always meant to be between the three of us. So no, I don’t think that there was less pressure on anyone because it means a lot to any of us drivers and it means a lot to the team also. And also all the people around you like your family, your friends and so on. You still feel like there’s a lot of weight on your shoulders to perform at your highest level. And I just like those moments, I love the pressure, I love when something is important to you, and I love observing those moments before the race starts. I love to see people’s reactions and how people act in different moments approaching important stages during the year.

Q: At what point in the season, did you think or realise that you will be competing for the championship?

A: We knew that we had a strong package and that we would be able to fight for the championship. And that I really want to fight for the championship. I mean these goals, they are always there. It’s not like you start the season, you do a couple of races and then set your goals. My personal ambitions and my goals are always to win and we put a lot of work and effort into it to make it happen. We started the season great with the pole position and the win in Mexico, but that has not changed or affected how we approached the season. There was no single point during the year where I thought now it’s gonna be tough or we can’t do it. Even when we were 20 or a bit more than 20 points behind, I said we could turn it around. That’s especially how Formula E goes – things can change very quickly on a good or a bad weekend. So yeah, I always believed in it. 

Q: What were the key moments during the season that contributed to your championship win?

A: It’s hard to pinpoint one key moment or key moments. I think overall we’ve made another step this year compared to last. We’ve improved especially in qualifying which was a big target for us because it felt like last year kind of slipped out of our hands because of poor qualifying results and this year this was our strength or one of our strengths that we were the best in qualifying. Already last year we were competitive in the races but I think this year we’ve made another step. So overall, on the performance level, it feels like we deserve to win that championship. We were super competitive and we were consistently fast on different types of tracks. So I would just say we improved or we made progress to a championship-winning team and car and driver.

Q: What was the mindset heading into the final race?

A: I think the mindset before London, so after Portland, was very important. I think we were not in the, let’s say, favourite position as the favourite position is always if you arrive as the leader to the last race. But it was also clear that it was still in our hands. So with a perfect weekend and with two times on P1 for example, we would win this championship so really my mindset after Portland was to not think about the championship too much and rather focus on putting the car in P1 on both days because that will automatically make you win the championship. Doing the maths and doing the calculations is taking focus away, and for me, I needed to perform at my highest possible level. I need to be 100 per cent with the car and also be aggressive and take risks. So that was very clear before the weekend already and I always told myself I could do it, that I’m ready for it and I think we as a team showed how strong we were this weekend. I mean there was a lot of pressure on the whole team on everyone and we just executed perfectly, we had an almost perfect weekend because I won on Saturday and finished second on Sunday and this makes me very proud to see that, the whole team is performing at such a high level and on the weekend with a lot of pressure and where it would have been very easy to make mistakes, we just focused on the job and what we had to do and that enabled me to win the championship in the end. And that just feels awesome.

Q: Knowing your starting position and the fact that you had your main title competitor just around you, what was the chosen strategy?

A: The strategy for Saturday was pretty clear, we wanted to win the race, we had to catch up in terms of points and we wanted to leave it open for Sunday. So leading the championship was probably a bit unexpected. We just hoped to close the gap and be as close as possible. But with that win on Saturday, it was a lot more comfortable going into Sunday’s race knowing that okay whoever would finish now in front would be the champion. And then on Sunday, the target was clear to – wherever we finish we need to finish in front of the Jaguars. And it came how it came, but how we all performed in qualifying, I felt like I had a pretty good qualifying being in P4, but they had even better qualifying and finished first and third. So out of the three, we probably had the worst starting position and the worst chance going into the race and it was clear that we needed to be aggressive we need to get past Max to have a go at the Jaguars and I did that quite early into the race and then it was the three of us in the top three positions and we had great fights between all of us. When Nick took his second attack mode, I managed to get between the Jaguars. This was the plan we had to split the Jaguars to get into a position where they can’t work together anymore taking the Attack Mode. We were very efficient in the race, I tried very hard to overtake Mitch and he defended very hard, actually got a warning for some moves that he did. The strategy would have been exactly the same as we did on Saturday – overcut the Jaguars, try to pull a gap and then take the Attack Mode. But yeah, the race unfolded a little bit differently this time. First of all, Nick retired. So it was just between Mitch and me. I knew I had to get in front of him because with P1 or P2 he would win the championship but then the safety car came and I knew it would get pretty close because we both had to take Attack Modes. But that situation allowed Ollie Roland to pass us both because then I knew already that I was in a more comfortable situation because him being second and me being third, we would be points equal, but I had more race wins so the championship would be mine. Knowing also that there’s one point for the fastest lap, I knew I had more pace than him in the race and I think you could see that I also had more energy so if we finished in second and third I would have gone for the fastest lap and tried that but as everything turned out he missed the Attack Mode, so he had to do it again and I passed him there and from there on I just tried to bring it home.

Q: Winning the crown of Formula E will or can bring you back to Formula 1. Is that something you would like to happen or not?

A: I’m very happy where I am. It feels like the moments I’m having currently are the most enjoyable and the most happy moments I have had in my whole career. And that’s for many reasons, first of all, I have such a great team behind me and I’m working with such great people where I just enjoy all the work, I just enjoy all the effort that goes in and I’m not winning only for myself, I’m also winning for everyone in the team and it’s a bit weird because I know how important it is to the people in the team. For example, when I crossed the line on Sunday, after the race my race engineer broke out in tears. When I have special moments during the season, for example, if I’m in pole position or when I’m winning races, I see the happiness of the team and just the power and the energy, that actually gives me more satisfaction than my own feelings. Because I love my team and I love the people there and to see them so happy is very cool. 

As a driver, I’ve been in Formula 1 for two years and I’ve seen it. Unfortunately, I’ve never been in a competitive car there. But that’s why I enjoy the situation I’m currently in because I know how difficult it can be to have a competitive car, a championship-winning car. It feels like I’m part of this progress that we have made as a team and seeing where we started as a team together four years ago and where we are now, I feel like I’m a part of that and that just gives me a lot of satisfaction. I want to win races, I want to be in a competitive car and overall I enjoy the situation I am in and have a great team behind me. I’m sure in the future we will have more things to achieve. I can now call myself DTM champion and Formula E World Champion and I would like to add a few more titles in the future. 

Q: You’re now a world champion, you’re a consistent race winner but before that, after the F1 exit, you faced quite a lot of unfair criticism. How does it feel from your point of view now to be a world champion and kind of prove that you are the driver that everyone kind of knew you were but didn’t necessarily get a chance to see?

A: My professional career started very early, I got my first professional contract when I was 18 years old and that was in DTM. How my F1 career went and what happened there, I feel like I didn’t have a competitive car to show what I can do. I still managed to be in the points a couple of times and outscore my teammates and so on. But still, I was the guy who didn’t get a drive for the next season. Sometimes life is like that and sometimes for yourself and from your perspective, it feels a bit more fair or a bit less fair, but still, we are all in a very fortunate situation and I am enjoying life. Sometimes I also believe that things in life happen for a reason and the situation I’m in today and how happy I am with my team, with my personal life and my family, maybe it was meant to be like that. Now I’m very happy to be a world champion in Formula E and like I said I see my team also as my family and I’m sure that in the future we will have more things to achieve together. It feels like so much has happened already in my life and career, but it’s probably just half of my professional career. So I’m looking forward to that second half and what we can achieve together.

Q: Now at 29, with many years of championships behind you, what does it mean for you to have achieved both?

A: I would definitely say that this title is the most important one I’ve won so far for many reasons. It’s the world championship. I’ve been now for a couple of years with my team and all the steps we’ve made together and the effort, all the energy and the progress, it feels like I’m a part of that, I went through all the ups and downs together with the team, we’ve always sat down together and tried to get better and talked about what we need to do to get better. To finally achieve it in the end is a great feeling just because I’ve been there from the beginning. Winning in such a competitive category as Formula E is very special as well. Today I’m in a different situation than I was when I won DTM. I appreciate the success and the work and those moments a lot more than I did in the past because they’re coming from junior categories where winning felt more normal. Then I went to DTM and quickly became a race winner there and won the championship. It felt normal but it still felt very familiar to how my junior category days went, and now with all the challenges I had the last couple of years, I appreciate success a lot more and I appreciate those moments. So yeah, this title gives me a lot of satisfaction and I definitely want to add more titles to it, in Formula E but also other categories. This is probably one thing I want to achieve: I can race different cars and different categories on the highest possible level. I am a touring car champion and I’m a single-seater car champion, which makes my window of categories of what I can race and where I can perform very big.

Q: Formula E has pushed through and evolved throughout this season. But there are still a lot of places that can be improved. What are some of the things that you would like to improve?

A: Things in Formula E are constantly improving and getting better. Don’t forget that it’s still a championship, which is quite young compared to other championships. So this was our 10th season. And, we are growing. The numbers are going up. We had, for example, a very successful event in Tokyo this year and as this was our first event there, I’m sure that we’ve learned from it. The interest was super big and the grandstands were sold out. So next year we come back and we have more grandstands there and more people coming. I think Formula E is just evolving and getting better and bigger in the future. As a driver, it’s great to be part of that. And I’m sure that we or that Formula E has the right people on board to make this championship even more successful than it is today.