Pascal Wehrlein left furious after 'ridiculous' Formula E punishment

Pascal Wehrlein was left furious with his three-place grid penalty for Formula E's season-opening São Paulo E-Prix, deeming the stewards' decision "ridiculous."

The Porsche driver was penalised for wheelspinning in the pit lane during qualifying, causing him to fall foul of Article 23.18 of Formula E's sporting regulations.

Article 23.18 states: "Burnouts and wheelspins are forbidden in the pit lane. These will be monitored and reported to the Stewards."

It is a rule that was introduced this season in an attempt to deter drivers from wheelspinning on safety grounds and from heating up their tyres for improved grip.

Wehrlein had defeated Jake Dennis in the final duel for pole in São Paulo, with the punishment dropping him to fourth on the grid – where he went on to finish in the race.

Following the season-opener, Wehrlein remained frustrated about the penalty and stressed that he was not attempting to gain a sporting advantage.

Asked for his thoughts on his grid penalty, Wehrlein's one-word response to RacingNews365 was: "Ridiculous."

He went on to explain his displeasure at the punishment and how the stewards had mixed opinions when he spoke to them after qualifying.

Discussing whether he wanted to speak to the stewards, Wehrlein explained: "I did already, I did speak to the stewards, and even the stewards had different opinions. That shows how ridiculous the penalty is.

"It is what it is. There's no intention to warm up the tyres here in the pit lane with over 30 degrees of ambient temperature. You want to cool them down as much as possible.

"Maybe it would be good to also clean the pit lane for once, because it's super dusty there. And obviously, when I went on power, it was like 20% [throttle], a tiny bit, and once I realised that I had spun the tyres, I lifted.

"So there was nothing intentional, and it's a shame that the stewards decided like that. But like I said, even then, they were not all sharing the same opinion."

Questioned whether he would bring the topic up in the Mexico City drivers' briefing, Wehrlein responded: "No, because it doesn't make sense."