Formula E champ Wehrlein and defeated rival Dennis hit sour notes after season finale

There’s no love lost between Pascal Wehrlein and Jake Dennis. Formula E’s first two GEN3 champions have come together on track before, and as they fought over this year’s championship crown, it was perhaps inevitable that were there to be drama, it would involve the pair.

The whole weekend in London was a story of team games, with Wehrlein and his Porsche teammate Nico Mueller locking out the front row of the grid in Saturday’s race, then Mueller putting on a defensive display to aid Wehrlein in his pursuit of victory, which was ultimately successful.

Sunday was a similar story, with Mueller again having to fight off Mitch Evans at first, but then Jaguar TCS Racing’s Antonio Felix da Costa also playing the team game, holding up Wehrlein to allow Evans a clear path.

“I think the approaches were completely different,” Wehrlein (pictured middle, above, with Dennis at left and Evans at right) said of both teams’ strategies. “Probably yesterday the approach was to keep Mitch behind and to stay in front of him. Today, the approach was to destroy my race to get me out of the points, even when Mitch was already far ahead. So still kept blocking me and driving me off the track.

“So yeah, very different approaches, but it's not even worth mentioning and giving them the time.”

As the race entered its final stages, Dennis needed a seventh-place finish to secure the title. Wehrlein had a five-point advantage, while the pair's only other challenger, Jaguar's Evans had to win, and wasn’t looking likely to as the checkered flag neared.

The move from da Costa shuffled Wehrlein back and brought Dennis into play and into title contention once again despite languishing towards the back of the midfield early on.

Wehrlein was now the one needing to fight back, and heading into Turn 17 on lap 31 of 35, he made contact with both Joel Eriksson ahead, and Dennis to his right. Eriksson spun, and Dennis was in the wall, ending any hopes of a second championship win. Wehrlein received a penalty for the incident – a three-place grid drop that will be served at the Jeddah E-Prix at the start of next season in December – but with Evans failing to win, the title was his anyway.

Dennis didn’t mince his words when discussing the incident after the race, slamming Wehrlein and Porsche – with whom Dennis’ Andretti team is splitting from after this season in favor of a powertrain supply deal with Nissan – for their approach.

“He took me clean straight out of the race, so it's as simple as that,” a livid Dennis said. "I think from my side, it's quite obvious. I think it's embarrassing, and what we've seen today from Pascal and Porsche, to be in that position to beat Pascal clearly ahead, and then he just rams me straight into the wall, it's quite surprising. But ultimately, if they want to win it like that, then they can.

“But that's the game. That's what happens when you're behind going into the final race. They can take you straight out, and ultimately, if they get the penalty, it makes no difference because I'm in the wall.

“So this is what it is. I can leave London with my head held high. I'm happy with the way I drove, the risks I took, and yeah, I go into the off season in a pretty good head space.”

At that point Dennis had a very real chance of taking the title, something that seemed unlikely when the lights went out after qualifying a lowly 16th.

“There was a clear chance,” he said. “I think everything we did today, we executed perfectly. We put ourselves in a position to take the title, we were ahead at points, until we weren't, so I think we did everything right today.”

As for Wehrlein, starting from when da Costa blocked to allow Evans to pass both, it looked like a championship trophy he had one hand on was slipping away, but he didn’t see it that way.

“There was never a feeling where I felt like it got out of my hands,” he insisted. “Obviously, it was a bit unpredictable, what Antonio did and how far he took it – no credits to him for what he did in this race.

“Whatever, I think, under normal circumstances, during that race we would have had a nice race, probably another podium finish. Nevertheless, I think we achieved what we had to achieve, and we did what we had to do.”

Wehrlein’s second Formula E title comes two years on from his last, and while he admits it’s hard to beat the first, triumphing in a race as intense as Sunday’s has left him fulfilled.

“Under the circumstances we had today, [it was] very special,” he said. “Even though I must say, the first one is always a bit more exciting. That's definitely the case.

“[It was] definitely a tough race. [I] Never expected that what happened would happen, but in any case, it is what it is. We made it. We set the base for today [over] the last 16 races, we took over the lead yesterday again.

“[The] approach of the whole weekend was phenomenal. What a job we've done. A bit of an up-and-down season, but again, in the end, there's pressure on when it matters.”