Why Porsche's 'overdue' Formula E breakthrough points to a flawed narrative

It’s not inconceivable that Porsche could have – and in one case, should have – already won a Formula E race or two prior to its long-awaited victory at the 2022 Mexico City E-Prix last month.

Pascal Wehrlein should have won at Puebla last year, had a few forms been filled out correctly. Andre Lotterer could have also won races by now if things had fallen just a little bit differently; you need only to look at the second-place finishes on his record to see that just a sprinkling of luck could have changed the perception of Porsche in Formula E. Unfortunately, sprinklings of luck are just as common in the all-electric series as downpours of misfortune. When Wehrlein was stripped of his Puebla win due to the filing of an incorrect technical passport for his 99X Electric, it was simply yet another case of Formula E's famously hard luck.

But just maybe, Porsche’s performance at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez was a far more desirable method of securing a first Formula E victory. Instead of benefitting from a lucky break, or from circumstances outside of its control, the German team had the Mexico race firmly on a string. Porsche made the calls, Porsche pushed multiple teams into uncomfortable strategic territory; Porsche won the race with a 1-2 finish.

PLUS: How Wehrlein earned redemption as Porsche ended its Formula E wait 

The narrative around Porsche’s first Formula E victory has been that it was long overdue, and that’s probably partly our (and the rest of the media’s) fault. To clean up a few misconceptions, Porsche hasn’t been in Formula E all that long – in fact, it’s now just three races into its third season. Perhaps FE’s short history makes the Stuttgart manufacturer look like a veteran outfit finally coming good, but as Wehrlein was keen to point out after the race in Mexico, it’s still a young team.

It could be that Porsche’s prestige and penchant for victories across multiple categories was culpable for dolloping those expectations on the team – a victim of its own success, if you will. Elsewhere in Germany, Mercedes had rocked up to the Formula E arena and more or less started winning straight out of the gate – at least, that was the perception; after all, the manufacturer had already gone through a season under its HWA proxy entry. That was a luxury Porsche didn’t have.

While Mercedes was using that back-door entry as a springboard to immediate success, Porsche had to do all its growing up in FE in the public eye. Net result: Mercedes ended the 2019-20 season with nearly double the points and followed that up the year after with a title triumph for Nyck de Vries, while Porsche completed both seasons eighth in the teams’ championship. But that hardly tells the whole story.

Wehrlein won on the road for Porsche in Puebla last year, but lost out on a technicality

Photo by: Andy Hone / Motorsport Images

It’s very hard to draw direct comparisons in Formula E, especially in previous seasons owing to the inconsistency of results and qualifying format. But if we compare Germany’s two big manufacturers in terms of points, there’s a hint at Porsche’s growth in the championship: it scored 53.7% of the points Mercedes scored in 2019-20 (albeit with a COVID-enforced shortened calendar) but managed 75.7% of the Silver Arrows’ points in 2020-21 despite the positional gap between the two in the championship growing.

PLUS: How Mercedes pulled off a silent coup in Formula E

Given that all hardware was homologated last year and could not be developed for 2021-22, it perhaps seems like a surprise that Porsche has seemingly found its Mexico dominance from nowhere – but, again, that’s not quite true. Wehrlein contended that Porsche already had the equipment to make those performances happen – it just wasn’t always able to deliver.

Porsche hasn’t ever had the chance to qualify up at the front so consistently, having generally populated the middle two groups in the old format and thus remained largely glued to the midfield. Wehrlein contends that, once mired in the pack, it’s very difficult to break out of

“We know that we have a good package,” said the former Mahindra driver. “Sometimes it was coming together in the past and sometimes not. We're still - not [brand] new - but still quite new in the championship. And I think slowly we understand everything. Hopefully [the win] gives the team a bit of momentum, a bit of self-confidence. And hopefully from now onwards, everything is getting easier.”

And belief is high in the Porsche camp. Lotterer admitted to being “disappointed” that he couldn’t be the driver who could break the team’s duck (and his own, having still yet to manage a top-step trip in FE) - but added that the team now meant “serious business” and should be considered as a title contender.

“We put in so much effort in,” Lotterer added, “especially after the difficult season last year - too many ups and downs. Like Pascal said, we are starting to start to put things together and we showed that we need serious business for the championship as well.”

There’s two other factors to consider in Porsche’s bright start to this season: qualifying and experience. The former has changed considerably over the off-season, and has metamorphosed from a system that heavily favoured the backmarkers into a more equitable system for all.

Old group qualifying was, in all honesty, a little bit of a crapshoot. Anyone who had the luxury of being drawn into the fourth qualifying group – in other words, the bottom six of the championship – would get a huge advantage over the other groups in terms of track evolution. That resulted in mixed up grids, but it was hardly a meritocratic approach. Now, the opening phase of qualifying still punishes mistakes, but allows drivers three or four bites at the cherry to try and make it through to the duels.

Belief is high in the Porsche camp, which has been building steadily towards the point of being a consistent challenger in the public eye

Photo by: Simon Galloway / Motorsport Images

And, crucially, knockout qualifying rewards those who get it right. Of the three tournament-style qualifying sessions that Formula E has hosted so far, three teams have made it to the finals in each one: Mercedes, Envision and Porsche. Lotterer seems to have the format sussed, making it to the semi-finals on two occasions and getting knocked out in the quarter-finals once. Wehrlein’s first duels appearance came in Mexico, and he swashbuckled his way to the final and beat Edoardo Mortara to pole.

Porsche hasn’t ever had the chance to qualify up at the front so consistently, having generally populated the middle two groups in the old format and thus remained largely glued to the midfield. Wehrlein contends that, once mired in the pack, it’s very difficult to break out of.

“I think the qualifying format helps,” Wehrlein explains. “Because in the past, the problem was - for example last year, I had a good start into the season; in Riyadh I collected a couple of points and then also in Rome, the second weekend, I was on the podium.

“But then I had to start in Group 1 in qualifying and there, it is not possible to qualify well. Group 1 always had the disadvantage in track conditions - and that means that you cannot show every weekend your true potential. If you start somewhere in the midfield, it's really difficult to make up a lot of positions.”

Porsche also now has a proper season behind it, having done half of the 2019-20 season before the COVID-19 pandemic kicked off. Mercedes had the HWA year to fall back on in terms of data analysis to cover the shortfall of a shortened season – again, that’s something Porsche didn’t have available to it. There’s more value to experience than just data, however: running a Formula E team does require experience – and as mentioned previously, Porsche is still one of the newer teams in the ring.

Although it had the off-season to work on its problems, Porsche knew that its 99X Electric package was good enough to win. Wehrlein said that the team had targeted victories at the start of the season and, naturally, was pleased to get it done early on. He also explained that, after a season working with Porsche, he now has the right understanding of how to coax his car into those kinds of opportunities – and he hopes that symbiosis will begin to open the victory floodgates.

"It was a big target for us to win a race this year,” says Wehrlein. “And it's good that we achieved that already so early into the season - it's only the second race weekend. We can tick that box. So that's very positive, and obviously now our focus is on the rest of the season. We want to win many more races, and at the end of the year, we want to fight for the championship.

Now Porsche is has achieved its target of winning a race, it can focus on fighting for a title

Photo by: Alastair Staley / Motorsport Images

“This win, obviously it means a lot. We've been here for a couple of seasons, even though we are still quite new in the championship. I think it’s now the 29th race of the team. We're still collecting a lot of experience in Formula E - the first season of the team was interrupted a lot by COVID. So the team couldn't experience all the tracks, they couldn't collect the data on all the tracks. We are still learning quite a lot.

"Now, we have a very, very good relationship and a very base. It was good that we could show already the potential we have that early into the season - the win was definitely a relief for all of us" Pascal Wehrlein

“I would say last year was a very important season. It was also my first season together with the team. And obviously in the beginning, it takes always a little bit of time until you get used to each other; now, the team knows what I want from the car, and I understand the car. Now, we have a very, very good relationship and a very base. It was good that we could show already the potential we have that early into the season - the win was definitely a relief for all of us.”

Porsche has already been making a few tweaks to its off-track line-up too; Thomas Laudenbach became the head of Porsche Motorsport last year, and brought in former Abt and Audi technical director Florian Modlinger to head up the Formula E team. Their reigns have got off to a bright start, especially with Mexico’s rout over the rest of the field, but there’s still more work to be done in balancing a potential championship charge with preparing for the incoming Gen3 regulations.

Wehrlein, meanwhile, estimates that there are “more or less almost 10 drivers who are able to win this championship” - but his belief that both of Porsche’s charges can be among them is currently unwavering. And, if it can control more races like it did in Mexico, Porsche could be the biggest thorn in the side of the Mercedes-powered cars – a fight that Formula E’s fans and corporate types alike would relish.

Could a Porsche-Mercedes fight for Formula E glory be in the offing?

Photo by: Carl Bingham / Motorsport Images