Pascal Wehrlein was left “lost for words” following a highly disappointing Monaco E-Prix, insisting that the tyre set he used for the second race of the double-header felt completely different.
Porsche’s staggering Formula E curse in Monaco continued last weekend, with the Weissach-based outfit now having gone eight races in the Principality without a podium.
Based on one-lap performance, it appeared that Wehrlein had a chance of breaking the curse, only for factors completely outside of his control to ruin his weekend.
In the first race, the 2024 world champion started from fifth but suffered a puncture after being hit by teammate Nico Müller, before enduring an uncompetitive showing in the second race.
There was a clear difference in Wehrlein’s competitiveness across Saturday and Sunday, with the 31-year-old attributing it to the fresh set of Hankook tyres he used in the second qualifying session and race.
Despite the Circuit de Monaco being quicker on the second day, Wehrlein was slower. According to the driver, no changes were made to his Porsche, but he experienced a complete loss of grip on the new tyres compared to the set he had previously been using.
“Honestly, it looked very promising in the morning,” Wehrlein told ApexF1News. “Both cars looked pretty strong. And then we put on a new tyre set in qualifying, and the whole car behaved completely differently.
“No grip, no balance — we were faster on a tyre set that had done a whole race and the whole day before. Yeah, I don’t know, I’m a bit lost for words, but that’s how it is.
“Yeah, nothing feels like it’s in my control, so I will just focus on the next race, for sure. There are some small learnings to take away, but yeah, the result is obviously a bad one.”
‘The paddock is aware’
The Monaco misery has dealt a setback to Wehrlein’s pursuit of a second Formula E drivers’ title, with the German having slipped from the top of the standings to fourth ahead of Sanya.
He entered last weekend with a three-point advantage over Mitch Evans, but exited it 27 points adrift and in need of a strong result in the next race.
For Wehrlein, while he accepts that what happened in Monaco was not through his own doing, what he cannot understand is how two sets of tyres can vary so dramatically in performance.
“[In Monaco], the schedule is so tight. On some tracks, you can argue that the track is changing or something, but here there’s only a one-hour break between practice and qualifying.
“You don’t change anything on the car, you put new tyres on, you expect more grip, and the grip is terrible.”
Wehrlein is not the first driver to complain about a new set of tyres offering very little grip this season, with it being an issue several drivers have mentioned across the 10 completed rounds.
Asked if Porsche can ask Hankook to investigate whether an issue was present, Pascal Wehrlein replied: “I think everyone in the paddock is aware — everyone is asking for more clarity.
“I guess this weekend we’ve just been on the wrong end of it. That’s it.”
