Pascal Wehrlein Claims FP2 Honours With a Tenth Separating Top-Four

Pascal Wehrlein started Saturday at the Mexico City E-Prix in perfect fashion, after topping what was an incredibly cold Free Practice Two. Friday afternoon pace-setter Jean-Éric Vergne claimed second whilst Sérgio Sette Câmara rounded off the top three, as just 0.052s seperated the top-four drivers!

As Free Practice Two got underway at the Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez, it was Maximilian Günther who hit the track first, as the sun began to rise in Mexico City. Track and air temperatures were particularly cool, with the first session of the day taking place at 07:30am local time. As the first lap-times were completed it was Sam Bird who set the initial fastest lap, as the drivers got to grips with the cooler temperatures. It was evident that the drivers were slowly building into the session, with the initial lap-times having been five-seconds slower than what was achieved Friday afternoon.

Drama quickly struck, though, as Bird pulled to the side of the stadium section after coming to a complete halt. The British driver complained of an MCU failure, with onboards having shown that he simply lost all drive. Remarkably, after being stationary for a couple of minutes, he got his I-TYPE 6 running again, before darting straight into the pits.

Whilst Bird was sat stationary, António Félix da Costa hit the top, before his TAG Heuer Porsche Formula E Team partner Wehrlein replaced him. As the first ten minutes past, the times continued to tumble and became more respectable as to what was seen on Friday, with Wehrlein’s time of a 1:14.427 being just over a second-off what Vergne achieved on Friday. Speaking of Vergne, the Frenchman jumped up to second behind Wehrlein, whilst rookie Jake Hughes and reigning World Champion Stoffel Vandoorne slotted into third and fourth.

As the session moved into its final twenty minutes, Sette Câmara jumped into the top three, further highlighting the solid work that has been done pre-season by NIO 333 Racing. The Brazilian was quickly out of the top three, though, as Hughes hit the top after breaking into the 1:13s. Hughes was closely followed by Jake Dennis, forming a momentary British one-two at the top of the timesheets. Just three-hundredths of a second split the two British drivers, whilst Sébastian Buemi moved to third.

Several drivers entered the pits as the morning session moved into its second half, with the ABT CUPRA Formula E Team concerningly locked at the bottom, with only Bird below them. The morning session suddenly became a costly one for Edoardo Mortara, who lost the rear as he went flat-out around the final corner. Whilst he managed to avoid spinning, his rear-left slapped the outside barrier, resulting in clear damage to his tyre, as his car crabbed as a result. The Swiss driver ultimately stopped his car in a run-off section, with what looked like possible suspension damage.

As Mortara took his helmet off you could see his breath coming out of his mouth, highlighting just how cold it was for the drivers. The circuit was sensationally just six-degrees Celsius, something which resulted in a plethora of tyre squeals. Focusing back on the action, Lucas Di Grassi jumped into third, as the session entered its final five minutes. Remarkably, the top nine was made up of nine different teams, suggesting that qualifying will be impeccably close.

The times became much closer to what was done Friday afternoon as the session moved closer to its end, as Sette Câmara and Mitch Evans moved to the top two. Whilst Evans was lapping quickly, Bird remained in the pits, certainly not what the British driver would’ve ordered! He did finally go back out on-track, though, but only when there was thirty-seconds remaining.

There was significant improvement as the drivers began their final laps, as Wehrlein went back to the top, before Dennis set the fastest-lap of the weekend so far after almost breaking into the 1:12s; however, his lap was quickly deleted for exceeding track limits. With Dennis’ lap having been deleted, Wehrlein ended the first session of race day on top, with Vergne just 0.004s behind in second. Just 0.006s behind the Frenchman was Sette Câmara, as 0.052s seperated the top-four. With the times being as close as they are, qualifying looks set to be impeccably close, with several drivers having a real chance of claiming the first pole position of Gen3.

Mexico City E-Prix Round 1: Free Practice Two Full Results