Wehrlein reveals second hospital visit after Sao Paulo shunt

Reigning Formula E champion Pascal Wehrlein has revealed he made a second visit to hospital due to headaches following his Sao Paulo shunt which ripped the halo from his Porsche’s chassis.

The German suffered the spectacular accident when his Porsche was flipped over by Nick Cassidy’s Jaguar in the season-opener last month, with the top of the roll hoop and halo making heavy contact with the wall before the car came to rest upside down on the track.

A red flag halted proceedings and Wehrlein was able to extract himself from the wreckage before being taken to hospital for checks where he was given the all-clear.

Speaking to Autosport ahead of the second round of the season in Mexico City this weekend, Wehrlein revealed his head had actually made contact with the wall in the incident.

“The halo got ripped out of the chassis otherwise the damage is not too bad,” said Wehrlein. “I don’t think there’s any other area where it got affected, but obviously it would be a safety concern if it wouldn’t be 100% perfect again. I think we will find out in the next couple of weeks [if it’s repairable].

“I think it [the impact] was around 20G, but obviously it was upside down, so very different forces on the chassis.

“The worrying thing was that I hit my head on the wall and like I said, the halo was quite damaged.

“I was conscious the whole time, but I had a headache for quite a few days. I went back to the hospital when I was home because I struggled a bit with pain.

“But the good thing is that we had a couple of weeks now since the last race, it took me a couple of days to recover and it was perfect timing over Christmas to have a good rest.”

Despite having failed to finish in the season-opener Wehrlein began his title defence with three points for pole position after showing impressive speed in Porsche’s new Gen3 Evo machine.

The Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez circuit for Saturday’s race has also been a happy hunting ground for Wehrlein in the past, having taken victory 12 months ago as well as claiming his and Porsche’s first Formula E win in 2022.

“I see no reason why we shouldn’t be competitive this weekend,” added the 30-year-old, who finished fourth in Friday’s FP1 session as Porsche team-mate Antonio Felix da Costa topped the times. “Already in Sao Paulo we were super competitive, and Mexico has always been a good track, but obviously we still need to do the job.

“I also have a new car, so I need to see how the car reacts, if it feels the same, it needs to be reliable.

“It’s definitely a mega job from the whole team to build a new car at the track. It’s not like before the start of the season where we can build a car [in the] calm and quiet in the workshop and make sure that everything is perfect.

“The whole car was kind of prepared here Wednesday and Thursday, and the team has put in a mega effort to do that.”