"I'd rather do a lottery for the grid positions": Pascal Wehrlein angry after accident in Formula E race at Misano

Saturday's race at the Misano E-Prix was a bitter disappointment for Porsche: race winner Antonio Felix da Costa was disqualified for a technical offence several hours after the race, while world championship leader Pascal Wehrlein was left without points in a Formula E race for the first time since the 2023 Cape Town E-Prix following an accident. Afterwards, Wehrlein expressed his dissatisfaction with the way the race had gone.

The day had started so promisingly for the German: He was the only Porsche driver to make it into the duel phase of qualifying, where he secured third place on the grid. However, this was not to be worth much in the race, as it turned out.

There were dozens of position changes in the first few laps, but Wehrlein always managed to stay in the leading group. Until the sixth lap: Jean-Eric Vergne, who was in the lead at the end of the back straight, let off the power pedal more than Wehrlein expected. The Porsche driver was taken by surprise and hit Vergne's right rear wheel, causing his car to briefly lift. This caused the front wing to break and subsequently grind on the ground.

"It's a f***ing mess, this race! My front wing is off, we have to box - front wing!" Wehrlein radioed to his race engineer a few moments later. After the necessary repair stop, he was one minute behind the field. His hopes of a safety car phase were not realised, so he finished the race in 16th place.

"We don't need to do the qualifying anymore"

"I think the pace is there, and we knew that," Wehrlein told Autosport after the race, "But this kind of race is a bit weird. It’s like we don’t need to do the qualifying anymore with those kind of races."

"The thing is our energy targets are just way too low in the beginning," he explains. "I don’t know if it’s exciting (for the spectators) or not. But from my perspective it’s just, I’d rather take a lottery for the race start positions because it doesn’t make a difference. I think the overall thing is we are racers and we want to drive as fast as possible."

Wehrlein's first zero of the season is not without consequences in the overall standings: He drops back to fourth place behind Oliver Rowland, Jake Dennis and Max Günther. But Wehrlein will not have to wait long before he can get back into the points hunt: The second race in Misano takes place today, with the race starting at 3 pm (CEST).