Pascal Wehrlein has revealed that he feared he had sustained major damage following multiple incidents during the Miami E-Prix, en-route to a significant victory.
The German driver suffered a shock elimination in the qualifying group stage which built upon the bad luck he has already faced this season.
It left the reigning world champion believing that the racing God was working against him once again, especially after contact during the race with a Jaguar and David Beckmann.
However, once he had established that he could continue setting a strong pace, he pushed on to claim a first win of the season.
He crossed the line in second but inherited victory at the Homestead-Miami Speedway after Norman Nato received a 10-second time penalty for still having attack mode time remaining, with luck having finally been in his favour.
"Yeah, I was hoping for that," Wehrlein told RacingNews365. "After qualifying, I thought it would never end. We take the win. Obviously, I'm still a bit sore after qualifying.
"I would have liked another time qualifying at the front. But as it turned out in the race, it was a good strategy. At one point, I had contact twice, again with a Jaguar and when David [Beckmann] I think, braked and crashed in the chicane.
"We just touched and it broke his wishbone, but it didn't break mine. I thought my steering was bent for sure afterwards, but it was still good enough to have a good pace. So again, it was so close to being out of the race, or like you see now, winning the race.
"And I think out of the five races we had this year, honestly we had a good chance at winning several races and it's great to have our first win."
The victory has elevated him into third in the drivers' standings and just 18 points off the lead, with a healthy 11 races remaining. He is clear, the title defence is alive.
"Yeah, it was a big step in the right direction," said Wehrlein with a huge grin.
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