Pascal Wehrlein took the opening race win in Formula E Mexico EPrix but is under investigation, ahead of Sebastien Buemi.
Wehrlein managed to leap clear out front to a second advantage right away, with Robin Frijns falling all the way back through the pack from seventh on the grid to 15th, thanks to a technical issue, causing a knock-on melee in mid-pack and forcing the Dutchman into a hard charge to make up ground.
At the start of Lap 3, it was as you were in the top six with Wehrlein leading Buemi, Guenther, Cassidy, Evans and Hughes the top six. Meanwhile, contact between the sister TAG Heuer Porsche of Antonio Felix da Costa and Nico Mueller (ABT CUPRA) saw the end of the race with broken suspenion for the former and the latter in the wall and to 19th and last.
Three of the top four, including the lead pair, jumped for their first of two mandatory 50kW ATTACK MODE boosts on Lap 4, with the rest of the top group joining them a lap later. When it all shook out, it was again pretty much as things had started out front. Only Maximilian Guenther (Maserati MSG Racing) in that top six had yet to activate, while Jake Dennis, recovering from 14th on the grid after an uncharecteristic qualifying error, had yet to use either of his two boosts as of Lap 7, moving up seven spots to seventh in the process.
On Lap 9, Robin Frijns – perhaps keen to make up for his slow start – found the wall, overcooking it on the exit of the Foro Sol and finding the wall in a big way, having just rounded Edo Mortara’s Mahindra. A Full Course Yellow would be required for his car’s removal from the circuit, and that’s four DNFs in five for Frijns.
In that mix, Wehrlein and Cassidy went for their second 50kW boosts, leaving Buemi in the lead. Of the top six, Buemi had two minutes still to use, as did Guenther in third, while Evans in fifth had six minutes in-hand. Dennis jumped too, leaving himself one more trip through the ATTACK MODE activation loop to use over the remaining two-thirds of the race – time to make further moves from eighth yet for the reigning champion.
On the restart, come Lap 12, Buemi yielded the lead to take his final ATTACK MODE – again leaving the top six as it had started, despite the intervening reshuffles. The radio calls went back and forth between both Buemi and his engineer and Wehrlein and the Porsche pits – the latter looking initially to stay behind the Swiss to conserve energy prior to that lead swap. Buemi’s engineer busily tried to convince his driver that they could make it a “two-horse race” with the German out-front.
Come Lap 17 and the halfway stage, all of the top 10 had used their ATTACK MODE quota, meaning a straight fight to the finish. Cassidy quietly assembled a run on Guenther, passing the German for third with the Kiwi, on debut, setting about the top two. Jean-Eric Vergne, meanwhile, had made good ground, up four spots from 10th to sixth and began reeling in Mitch Evans’ with 10 laps to go – the Jaguar driver seemingly more in defense mode than attack.
With the race reaching its climax, Wehrlein looked comfortable and capable of managing things from P1 – with Buemi being held back by some two seconds with eight laps to go plus two added laps for time lost to that Full Course Yellow. And that’s the way it stayed, Wehrlein able to comfortably lead Buemi home, with Cassidy rounding in third position.
Provisional results: https://x.com/MsportXtra/status/1746274926397468989?s=20
UPDATE: Wehrlein and Dennis were cleared of their investigations as the FIA stewards couldn’t find any technical breach. Da Costa though was handed a 3-place grid drop for Saudi Arabia after his collision with Mueller. Ticktum, meanwhile, was handed 1,000 euros fine for missing the official grid picture, while teammate Camara was excused of the same as his car had a technical problem and did not start the race.
Final results; https://www.fiaformulae.com/en/results?season=84467676-4d5d-4c97-ae07-0b7520bb95ea&race=d1551077-a122-4a70-894c-941345831ec4&tab=race
[Note: The story is as per press release]
