Pascal Wehrlein: My biggest lesson about Formula E came from Mexico City

Pumped up after his impressive fourth-place finish in the Santiago ePrix a few weeks back, Pascal Wehrlein explains his gameplan for the upcoming Mexico ePrix, the fourth round of the 2019/20 ABB FIA Formula E championship.

It’s race week and Mahindra Racing is returning to Mexico City for the fourth round of the 2019/20 ABB FIA Formula E Championship. I think we extracted the maximum out of the car last time out in Chile and I’m looking forward to getting back in my #94 ‘Electro McQueen’ M6Electro on Saturday as the team is ready to try to build on the strong performance we had in Santiago. Like most racing drivers, I like to be in the car as often as possible!

The Mexico E-Prix track has slightly changed this year and I really like what they’ve done; it’s a bit longer and the last corner is particularly fast and long which could be a challenge for the front left tyre. And, as we saw last year, energy management is going to critical. It was this race in Season 5 where I had my biggest lesson in driving efficiently in Formula E; I secured my first pole position in the championship and led the race from the start right up until the last corner on the final lap. That’s when I ran out of usable energy. So, I’m back and ready to slay my demons in Mexico!

The race really starts on Saturday morning with the two Free Practice session. This is where we start to familiarise ourselves with the track and build confidence on the street circuit to get a better understanding of where the grip is to try to get the best set up for qualifying. Sometimes it can be really difficult to get the balance right for when we go out in our set groups because you don’t want to push too hard and make a mistake but equally you can’t afford to take it that easy, and of course, there are advantages and disadvantages depending on the track and the group that we’re in. Sometimes the track gets faster as we go through the qualifying groups and other times, it’s actually slower. I would say we have had a strong car in qualifying overall so far this season and if we can get it set up right from Free Practice 1 and Free Practice 2 and put the lap together, then there’s no reason why we can’t secure another Super Pole appearance at the Mexico E-Prix.

This is Formula E and anything can happen, so any extra boost is always an advantage. Please vote for me in Fanboost for Saturday’s race. Remember, for every vote I receive in Season 6, Mahindra Racing will plant a tree which means your vote will go beyond the racetrack.

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Pascal Wehrlein: I finished on the podium last time!