The unseen incident that wrecked Pascal Wehrlein’s Berlin Formula E race

“So, the contact with Dennis was a very small one, but a very unlucky angle of his front wing, which broke the valve and finished my race.

Pascal Wehrlein, Porsche Formula E Team

Pascal Wehrlein, Porsche Formula E Team

“We were driving side by side, I was on the inside, he was on the outside and basically his front wing touched my tyre and basically went into the valve.”

He added: “The problem was that I had to finish the whole lap, so it happened in the second last corner, and I just realised on the start-finish straight that I had a puncture.

“So, then I was driving the whole lap with a puncture, I was dropping to the last position.

“Then I boxed, but you are not allowed during the pit cruise to change the tyre, so you have to do it afterwards. So, the gap to the second last car was like 10 seconds and from there onwards my race was over.”

Porsche appeared to have a clear advantage over its closest rival Jaguar in Saturday’s opener.  Mitch Evans could only manage sixth in the best of the I-Type 7s after failing to progress into duels in qualifying, while Antonio Felix da Costa dropped to 10th with overheating issues.

Asked whether Porsche would be able to employ a similar strategy in Sunday’s race, which will feature two fewer laps, no Pit Boost but a second Attack Mode, Wehrlein said: “I think so. I think tomorrow there will be even more energy saving. Tomorrow will probably be even more chaotic than today.”

To read more Motorsport.com articles visit our website.