FE | Mexico City: Wehrlein opens the season in pole position

On the eve of the season, Pascal Wehrlein had underlined the need to improve in qualifying, a session in which in 2023 he had often struggled and was thus forced to face a comeback race. Porsche explained that it had worked hard behind the scenes on the software and the methods to best prepare the flying lap during the break between Season 9 and Season 10: the championship could not have started in the best way, because in Mexico City the German he achieved his first pole position of the season, beating Sebastien Buemi by around two and a half tenths in the final.

Wehrlein was able to make the difference in the first and second sectors, where he managed to accumulate over three and a half tenths of an advantage, thus also achieving his first pole in the Gen 3 era. Despite Buemi's efforts in the last half time, where he managed to nibble away several hundredths, the Swiss had to settle for a good second position, which will lead him to start from the front row anyway with the possibility of playing for the victory.

Nick Cassidy should have started from third place, having beaten Stoffel Vandoorne by more than two tenths in the first quarter-final thanks to an excellent second sector. However, both drivers will be penalized for not having correctly respected the red flag regime during the first free practice session of the weekend, which is why they will be dropped one position on the starting grid. Regardless of the sanction, it was still a good start for the New Zealander from Jaguar, his first experience with the official team, who still managed to reach the semi-finals before being beaten by Wehrlein in a duel that was played on the cents. Cassidy will start from fourth position, while the Frenchman from DS will start from the fourth row.

Also out in the quarter-finals was Robin Frijns, who immediately made a mistake at the start of the lap and ended up slightly wide, an aspect which favored the passage of Pascal Wehrlein, who then flew towards the final. For the Dutchman, this is still a good result on his return to Envison, but above all it also confirms the competitiveness of the Jaguar package, which was able to bring all four of “his” cars into the top eight positions.

Positive qualification also for Max Gunther with the Maserati, who will start from third position taking advantage of the penalties that will set back Cassidy and Mitch Evans, beaten by Buemi in the second semi-final. The Trident brand's main objective was to start the season with good competitiveness in the wake of the progress made in the second half of the last championship: the target is now at least to repeat the good performance on the flying lap in the race too, even though it won't be simple given that behind him there will be tough rivals eager to move up the rankings.

In the top 8 Jake Hughes, who with McLaren returned to have his say in qualifying, exactly as happened at the beginning of last season: after a good start, the Briton progressively lost ground towards the Swiss, until reaching to show more than a tenth and a half of detachment.

Photo by: Sam Bagnall / Motorsport Images

Maximilian Gunther, Maserati Racing, Maserati Tipo Folgore

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Norman Nato's first experience in Andretti did not end in the best way, thanks to the exclusion already in the first phase of the groups with the fifth place in the first qualifying round by about a tenth compared to Pascal Wehrlein, the last to have registered enough time to move on to the next round.

Another excellent exclusion is that of Sam Bird, in his first adventure with McLaren, who was understandably disappointed at the end of the first round, as could be seen from the expression and words of the Team Principal framed by the cameras. Sacha Fenestraz was also out in the first round with Nissan, as was Edoardo Mortara in his first qualifying with Mahindra after leaving Maserati, the team with which he had essentially spent his entire career in Formula E.

The driver who replaced the Swiss in the Trident brand, Jehan Daruvala, is also out in group A, making it his absolute debut in the electric category, naturally excluding the free practice sessions carried out with Mahindra as part of the dedicated program to rookies. Tenth time in the first qualifying round for Lucas di Grassi with the ABT Cupra, which is at the center of the rumors due to its alleged decision – not yet made official – to abandon the Indian company's Powertrain to embrace a new project and regain competitiveness.

Photo by: Andreas Beil

Jake Dennis, Andretti Autosport, Porsche 99X Electric Gen3

However, even in group B there was no shortage of surprises, starting with the elimination of Jean-Eric Vergne, excluded by just under half a tenth ahead of Nico Mueller, who nevertheless managed a good qualifying with the ABT. The excellent exclusion, however, is that of the reigning world champion Jake Dennis, only seventh in his group, more than two tenths from the top after having thwarted his last attempt with some errors, including a mistake when braking at turn five. For the Porsche-powered drivers, one of the great objectives was to improve qualifying: the hopes of the British Andretti driver will now focus on the race, in which it will be understood whether the German Powertrain will still be able to make the difference over the long distance, thus giving concrete possibilities of a comeback.

Also out are Sergio Sette Camara with the “newborn” ERT, which was born from the ashes of NIO after the abandonment of the Chinese car brand, as well as Oliver Rowland with the second Nissan and Nyck de Vries, whose return to the electric category has not begun on the right foot as he will start from the bottom.