Pascal Wehrlein issues Porsche response to Antonio Felix da Costa comment

Pascal Wehrlein has issued a response to Porsche following former team-mate Antonio Felix da Costa revealing he "knows exactly" how it thinks and operates, helping his chances in a title fight against them.

Wehrlein enters Porsche's home event this weekend — the Berlin E-Prix double-header — as the leader of the drivers' championship, but faces fierce pressure from both Jaguar drivers in particular.

Da Costa is the in-form driver after winning the last two races, while Mitch Evans secured victory four rounds ago in Miami. The Big Cat has been rapidly gaining momentum, but Wehrlein has held strong thus far.

Formula E's latest trip to the German capital will see the campaign almost hit the halfway mark, a point at which discussions surrounding the championship fight begin to intensify.

For Wehrlein, though, he is yet to switch his focus to 'title fight' mode and is instead still prioritising achieving the best possible results, rather than opting for safe finishes.

"I think I do that out of instinct," Wehrlein told RacingNews365 during an interview when discussing at what point the mindset switches to a title fight.

"It's not something you plan. If I see chances to maximise my race, I will always take them. Right now, we haven't reached that stage yet by far — it's not time to think safe and think about the championship.

"It's about finishing the race in the best possible position every time, which then hopefully puts us in a position where we can start to think about it towards the end of the season. But right now, it's way too early."

The perfect storyline for Formula E in its final Gen3 season would be Wehrlein versus da Costa, putting two rivals with very recent history against one another.

Da Costa will know — and has revealed to RacingNews365 — much about how Porsche operates, having spent the past three years there before his move to Jaguar. In theory, it is something that could work massively to the Portuguese driver's advantage.

When Wehrlein was asked if what da Costa said is an advantage for his old sparring partner, the German intriguingly responded: "That's a good question, which I can't really answer, but I hope we are fighting for it," said Wehrlein, before adding after a lengthy pause, "I think at the same time, we also know his strengths and weaknesses."