Exclusive: Formula E title 'best achievement' of career – Wehrlein

Pascal Wehrlein revealed exclusively to RacingNews365 that becoming Formula E world champion is the "best achievement" of his career so far. 

The German driver mastered the season finale in London a fortnight ago to claim his first world title, which also marked the factory Porsche team's first in FE. 

It is remarkable to think Wehrlein is still only 29 years old, with it being easy to forget that he made his DTM debut at 18 and won the championship when he was only 20 years old. On top of that, his F1 career unfolded and ended all before he turned 24. 

For Wehrlein, winning the all-electric series is the highlight of his career to-date, and is the crown he appreciates the most. 

This is not because he undermines DTM, but because winning to him was so natural and common in his junior career.

"For me, it definitely feels like the best achievement so far, and the one I've enjoyed the most," Wehrlein said in a RacingNews365 exclusive interview.

"For many reasons, I think first of all, Formula E is so competitive. It's definitely the most competitive championship I've won. 

"But also the DTM one, DTM is also very competitive, but it just feels like Formula E is a little bit more unpredictable and probably a little bit harder to win. And also, I have to say, because I'm in a different age now than when I was in DTM, I appreciate it a lot more now. 

"The last couple of years would support that appreciation, because when I won DTM, I was still super young, I was 20 years old. Not a long time ago, I was winning every junior category I was racing in and it kind of felt normal at that time to be very successful and to win."

Wehrlein learns from tough moments

Wehrlein's career has already taken several twists and turns, the first of which was when he finally made the move to F1. 

He lasted two seasons in F1, the first of which was with backmarker Manor, an outfit he impressively claimed a rare point finish for in Austria. His performances saw the German signed by Sauber, where he claimed two point finishes in Spain and Azerbaijan.

Unfortunately, Wehrlein lost his F1 seat to Charles Leclerc at the end of 2017, marking a difficult moment in his career. 

2017 in itself was hugely challenging, as the year began with a horrible accident in the Race of Champions which left the driver with a compression fracture of a neck vertebra. He missed the opening two races of the F1 season as a result. 

His career became no easier in 2018 when he switched to FE with Mahindra, where he struggled to compete for victories. Similar issues were experienced in 2020 when he joined Porsche, with major success having only started to be enjoyed in the last two years. 

Speaking about his career difficulties, Wehrlein said: "But then I also saw the other side, going into Formula 1, which was successful, but I never had the car to win and to show a lot more.

"Then I did the switch to Formula E and I didn't have the car there as well to win the championship. When I started with Mahindra, especially then but also when I did my first two years with Porsche. 

"We always had good highlights we had race wins, but we also had very low lows, where it was hard to score points actually. So definitely Season 9 and Season 10, for like the first time we were in contention for a championship fight. 

"It's been a long journey together, it feels like I was there from almost since Porsche joined Formula E. We've made all this progress together and we've made all these steps together. So I just feel super involved in the success.

"That makes it even nicer, being a big part of it and seeing all the hard work which we did the last couple of years finally pay off. Feels amazing."