By Carlo Platella
In Mexico City Pascal Wehrlein and Porsche return to celebrate a victory that was missing from the first Jakarta E-Prix of 2023. The Mexican success has the flavor of redemption, built precisely on what was the great weak point for the pair last season all German, i.e. the performance in qualifying. Victory in the inaugural 2024 E-Prix is the result of a targeted work carried out in recent monthsfrom which Porsche hopes to reap further benefits soon.
Suffering in qualifying in 2023
There is one statistic that more than any other summarizes the difficulties suffered by the official Porsche team and Pascal Wehrlein during the 2023 campaign: “We have always had a competitive car in the race”says the German. “My average qualifying position last year was 9.7 or 9.8, but in the championship we finished fourth, which means in the race we were much more competitive than in the flying lapwhich was the main area to be attacked for improvement.” Being still at the dawn of a new technical era, that of the Gen3, at the beginning of the season the differences between the teams were large. This meant that the Porsche drivers could make the most of their advantage in race configuration, managing to recover despite starting from the back. However, as the competition got closer, this was no longer possible and the poor performances in qualifying became increasingly penalizing.
“Qualifying was never great for us last year, even though we were able to win some races early on. For example, I remember my victories in Saudi Arabia, where I started in ninth and fifth place. Then, in the second half of the year, we probably got worse in qualifying. Everyone had more experience with the Gen3s and recovering positions in the race was no longer so easy. The flying lap has been our weak point all year, with a few exceptions, such as third place in Jakarta and fifth in Diriyah.”
Targeted work
After losing a world title that seemed safe at the beginning of the season, Porsche had no doubts about what the development priority was for 2024. Wehrlein says: “Our efforts after the season were all to improve the flying lap, to no longer make life so complicated in the race. What makes me happiest about the weekend in Mexico is qualifying. Surely we will have to confirm the progress on other tracks too, given that we have always done well in Mexico City. However, the flying lap remains the main area we have worked on here since last year.”
To improve performance in qualifying, the German manufacturer was unable to change anything about the 99X Electric's powertrain, including the rear suspension. “The cars are approved for two years. The progress therefore mainly concerns the set-up, the software, understanding the tyres and how to extract the most from the whole package”. The improvement in the set-up was enough to enter the duels and qualify for Pole Position in Mexico City, without however compromising the quality of the package in race configuration. “I think we have made some progress. Let's understand better how to extract the potential in the single lap. We made great efforts to improve in qualifying, without sacrificing race pace.” comments the German.
Weekend management
The 2024 99X Electric now offers a better baseline for race weekends, but Porsche and Pascal Wehrlein also showed flexibility in evolving the setup during the Mexico City weekend. Wehrlein says: “From my point of view in Mexico we extracted everything, the set-up was good, even if after FP2 we were outside the top-10 and we had to change some things. This is something we learned in testing, what direction to go when I'm not comfortable with the balance of the car.”
At first glance one might think that the need to review the running set-up is an indication of a less than optimal initial preparation for the simulator, but the German reveals that this is not the case: “We started the weekend well, finishing the first free practice on Friday in second position. Then in the second session we tried something else, but it didn't work. How you start the weekend in terms of setup is never the same as how you end it, we always try to improve. In the second free practice we did some tests that didn't work. We drew our conclusions, but for qualifying we didn't return to the setup of the first tests.”
“We thought of something new and it paid off,” adds Wehrlein. “So I wouldn't say it's worrying, on the contrary, it's positive. We had an idea on how to make the car go faster, but even though it didn't work, we had an alternative, based on the data collected in the two test sessions.” The decision later proved to be the right one, with the German being the only Porsche-powered driver to access the knockout phase of qualifying, advancing to pole position.
The race
Strengthened by the start from the pole, the Porsche standard bearer defended the first position until the checkered flag. Contrary to what one might think, however, the race was not free from pitfalls: “The race was quite smooth from an operational and strategic point of view. That doesn't mean it was easy, though. I had to push hard and be perfect every lap to win, with Buemi and Cassidy very close. In terms of strategy, I exchanged positions with Buemi twice. Only when Sebastien made a mistake, losing a second, I was able to count on a 2 second advantage, which allowed me to control more easily.”
Formula E will return to the track in the last weekend of January for the double E-Prix of Diriyah, a track which in 2023 saw Wehrlein win both races. The German, however, repeats that nothing is guaranteed for the upcoming edition, actually encouraging the team to push on the development of the 99X Electric: “I would like to see that we continue like this and that we progress further, it would be important. During the season no one will remain still, but everyone will continue to understand and improve. We must do the same.”
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