Pascal Wehrlein Shocked as Shanghai Shakes Up Title Race

Pascal Wehrlein admitted he was shocked after losing the lead in the closing stages of Formula E’s second Shanghai race, when changing track conditions allowed Lucas di Grassi, Jean-Eric Vergne, and Joel Eriksson to overtake him.

The Porsche driver produced a highly effective double-header weekend at the Shanghai International Circuit. He took pole position and victory on the opening day before finishing fourth in Sunday’s race, which shifted dramatically as the track moved from wet conditions towards a drying surface.

The weekend delivered a 40-point haul for Wehrlein. He arrived in Shanghai fourth in the standings and 27 points behind Mitch Evans, but left the round leading the Formula E drivers’ championship by nine points with four races remaining.

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The second race started in wet conditions, with most of the grid opting for a wet set-up. Lucas di Grassi, Jean-Eric Vergne, and Joel Eriksson took the alternative route with a dry set-up, a gamble that became decisive when a dry line appeared in the closing stages.

Wehrlein had been leading comfortably, but lost momentum as the surface dried. The three drivers on dry set-ups were able to pass him late in the race, dropping him to fourth and denying him a second win from the Shanghai weekend.

“Yeah, it feels like a bittersweet race for me because I feel like I've lost 13 to 16 points than won 12 points,” Wehrlein told RacingNews365.

Wehrlein said Formula E Shanghai became difficult to judge from a set-up perspective. He felt Porsche stayed with the configuration it believed suited the conditions for too long, while switching to a dry set-up was not a gamble he could afford from the front.

“We couldn't gamble on a dry set-up when it started raining quite heavily again just before the race. Others did, but they also started further back, so they were perhaps more open to taking risks,” he said.

Although Wehrlein felt a second win would likely have been possible had the rain lasted 10 minutes longer, he still considered Shanghai a crucial weekend. After several difficult rounds, the 40-point result gave Porsche and Wehrlein major momentum in the title fight heading into the final four races.