Pascal Wehrlein has praised the safety of the Formula E cars following his heavy crash at the São Paulo E-Prix. He feared to be struck by one of his rivals after being flipped upside down.
What happened
The reigning world champion started the event from pole position but found himself with an early exit in the race. Wehrlein was flipped upside down by Jaguars Nick Cassidy, who had to avoid DS Penske’s Maximilian Günther, and then squeezed the Porsche driver into the wall of Turn 5.
“My first concern was that somebody could hit me from behind, which is why I wanted the red flags to come out immediately,” Wehrlein told The Race in an interview.
“A situation like that is obviously much more dangerous when a car is upside down.”
He “just wanted to get out of the car as quickly as possible” as he couldn’t climb out of his Porsche. The medical car and extraction team arrived quickly but due to the complexity of the incident careful planning was needed.
“The extraction team wants to know whether you are okay, they want to know whether you feel any pain and, if so, in which area of your body and so on,” the German explained.
“They are absolute professionals, and I am glad we have them.
“But even though it was quite a shock, I felt like I was very conscious about my body, and as I didn’t feel any broken bones or so on, we focused quite quickly on turning the car around and getting me out in a safe and cautious manner.
Safety matters
Wehrlein also praised the strength of the car and all the safety measures installed in the car, particularly the halo, introduced first in Formula 1 and then in other series as well.
“It’s very likely that I would not have walked away from it like this without the halo”, he added.
“But it’s not just about the halo. It’s the combination of all the different things that make these cars so safe these days. Halo, the safety cell, harnesses, helmet and so on.
“Plus, the other element is the quick help you get after something has happened. This was another reminder that we should never stop improving the safety in our sport.”
After he secured second place Wehrlein’s teammate António Félix da Costa said: “Happy to hear that Pascal is okay. That was an ugly crash and I’m happy to see that our cars are safe and I wish a speedy recovery now for him.”
Mitch Evans won the season opener of Season 11 at São Paulo after starting last. The second round of the season will be held at Mexico City, on 7 January.
