TAG Heuer Porsche’s Pascal Wehrlein transformed a slender pole place to a commanding win within the season-opening Mexico Metropolis E-Prix, and saved his victory regardless of a post-race technical investigation. F1Technical’s senior author Balázs Szabó reviews on the primary race of System E’s Season 10.
The primary qualifying session of the 2024 System E season noticed Pascal Wehrlein set the quickest lap, beating former F1 driver Sébastien Buemi by two and a half tenth. Nyck de Vries, who returned to the collection following his brief stint in System One, got here no additional than the final place in his Mahindra. The 2 Jaguars and Stoffel Vandoorne all incurred a one-place grid penalty for ignoring a crimson flag in apply.
Firstly, Pascal Wehrlein maintained the lead into the primary nook, adopted by Sebastien Buemi and Maximilian Guenther. Elsewhere, Lucas di Grassi went off the monitor at Flip 11, dropping from P18 to the final place. Though the previous System E champion may proceed. he was pressured to retire from the race with a brake-related challenge.
The subsequent lap noticed Robin Frijns make up a spot following a tough begin, overtaking Nico Mueller into Flip 1. His crew later confirmed that he had a technical challenge which noticed him battle to get off the road.
After two laps, race chief Wehlerin held a bonus of seven tenths of a second from Buemi. The German driver opted to activate his first two-minute energy enhance, dropping again to second with Buemi taking on the lead.
On Lap 3, Antonio Felix da Costa tried an formidable overtaking transfer on Nico Mueller, however as an alternative of a clear manoeuvre, he darted into the Abt System E automotive. Mueller span round, hitting the boundaries with the again of his automotive, however each drivers managed to proceed.
The subsequent lap noticed Buemi going for a six-minute assault mode which allowed Wehrlein to regain the lead. A number of drivers – together with Nick Cassidy, Jakes Hughes, Sam Fowl, Edoardo Mortara, Oliver Rowland, Dan Ticktum, and Jahan Daruvala – elected to make use of the extra energy mode.
On Lap 8, Wehrlein activated his second energy enhance which allowed Buemi to leap into the lead for the second time within the season-opening race.
The identical lap noticed Frijns crash his Envision System E automotive into the boundaries at Flip 17 with the incident having triggered a security automotive interruption. The Porsche Taycan spent three laps on the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez earlier than the motion was resumed on Lap 12.
With Buemi taking his second energy enhance following the restart, Wehrlein regained the lead from the Swiss driver. The previous Sauber F1 driver shortly managed to construct up a niche of a second from Buemi. Nevertheless, the previous Toro Rosso F1 racer managed to react to Wehrlein’s pace, setting the quickest lap on Lap 16.
With 14 laps left, the order was Wehrlein, Buemi, Cassidy, Guenther, Evans, Vergne, Hughes, Vandoorne, Dennis and Fowl within the high ten.
On Lap 26, Wehrlein carried a bonus of simply over two seconds from Buemi, however the Swiss was keen to shut in on his German rival. Within the meantime, Vergne closed in on Evans, who gave the impression to be unable to maintain up with fourth-placed Guenther.
On Lap 31, Sam Fowl turned the second-to-last driver to activate his energy enhance with the British driver dropping down the order to P14 as he went by way of the activation zone.
Though Buemi tried to lower the hole to race chief Wehrlein, he was unable to get nearer than 1.7 seconds.
System E Race Director Scott Elkins confirmed that two laps could be added to the race distance because of the security automotive interruption.
With solely 4 laps to go, Evans made a mistake within the remaining sector which allowed Vergne to get inside touching distance. On the similar time, an enormous pack constructed up behind Evans and Vergne with Hughes, Vandoorne, Dennis, Nato, Rowland, and Fenestraz all closing on the 2 drivers combating for fifth place.
On the entrance of the sphere, there was no change within the closing levels with Wehrlein taking a commanding victory within the season-opening Mexico Metropolis E-Prix, beating Buemi and Cassidy.
Guenther took fourth for Maserati with Evans having been capable of cling on to fifth place regardless of the shortage of tempo within the dying levels of the race. Two-time System E champion Vergne completed in P6 simply 4 tenths of a second behind Evans, adopted by McLaren’s Hughes with Vandoorne, reigning champion Dennis and Nato finishing the point-scoring high ten.
Commenting on his win for Porsche, Wehrlein stated: “It was a tricky race as a result of we had been main a lot of the race and that’s not so environment friendly for power – however each lap was like a qualifying lap, making an attempt to maximise pace.
“I noticed a small mistake behind me which created a small hole, and from then I believe it was fairly managed. Thanks loads to my crew and because of all of the followers right here, it’s all the time an important to be right here in Mexico; it’s an important environment. I’m already trying ahead to coming again subsequent yr.”
How issues stand following the primary race of Season 10 ⚡️@Hankook_Sport #MexicoCityEPrix
— System E (@FIAFormulaE) January 13, 2024
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