Pascal Wehrlein has become the 2025-26 Formula E world champion despite finishing outside of the points in the London E-Prix as Taylor Barnard won the frantic season finale.
The Porsche driver has now joined Jean-Eric Vergne as the all-electric championship’s only two-time series champions after Wehrlein took his first in the 2023-24 London finale.
He took this year’s title despite entering the weekend third in the championship, five points off erstwhile leader Jake Dennis and three behind Mitch Evans but luck initially went his way.
It started on Saturday, when Porsche team orders enabled Wehrlein to win race one from pole and take the championship lead from Dennis by five points, with Evans a significant 21 behind.
The picture became even better when he enjoyed another strong qualifying on Sunday, taking third behind pole sitter Nyck de Vries and his Mahindra team-mate Edoardo Mortara.
Wehrlein’s stablemate Nico Muller, meanwhile, joined him on the second row ahead of fifth-placed Evans with Dennis down in 16th, requiring a near-miracle for him to lose the title.
The 31-year-old just needed to keep it clean and that’s what happened at race start as drivers maintained position before the various Attack Mode strategies came into play.
That made the early picture unclear as the likes of Barnard, who started sixth, and Antonio Felix Da Costa, from ninth, came into the fray with positions constantly changing.
Antonio Felix Da Costa found himself in the fight despite starting ninth
Photo by: Alastair Staley / LAT Images via Getty Images
But amid the chaos, all that mattered was come lap 16 of 35, it looked as though Wehrlein had the title wrapped up as he was fifth behind leader Mortara, de Vries, Barnard and Da Costa.
An aggressive Da Costa was doing his best to help Jaguar team-mate Evans, but the Kiwi was struggling to overtake Muller for seventh with Dennis not a threat outside of the points.
Then it all changed on lap 26, however, when the near-miracle needed for either Dennis or Evans to become champion actually started to look like a genuine possibility.
That’s because sixth-placed Evans took his Attack Mode and quickly made a double overtake on Da Costa and Wehrlein at Turn 16 thanks to his team-mate holding up the Porsche.
Evans then suddenly streaked clear with his sights on the top three, while Da Costa continued to have his elbows out doing whatever it took for a now frustrated Wehrlein to not be champion.
So much was obvious on lap 27 when he deliberately ran Wehrlein wide at Turn 19, which dramatically dropped the German down to 11th, as the train behind forced through including Dennis.
This suddenly made Dennis the provisional champion as nerves dramatically escalated, only for one more twist on lap 32 as Wehrlein resorted to desperate moves to save his second crown.
He lunged down the inside of Dennis for ninth at Turn 16, but tagged the back of Joel Eriksson, causing the Envision to spin and hold up both the Porsche and Andretti, which dropped out the top 10.
Jake Dennis found himself out of the title fight
Photo by: Sam Bagnall / Getty Images
In a split second, Dennis was out of the title picture with eyes now turning to fourth-placed Evans, who needed to win but was eight seconds behind the top three of De Vries, Mortara and Barnard.
So, with the lap count ticking down, it was too much of a task for Evans, who couldn’t progress any further. Barnard did, however, thanks to taking Attack Mode late on.
It resulted in the DS Penske driver storming into the lead to eventually take his maiden series victory, just less than a second ahead of De Vries with Mortara completing the podium.
Evans finishing fourth at least secured the teams’ crown for Jaguar in its battle with Porsche, while Envision’s Sebastien Buemi completed the top five in his last Formula E race.
Nick Cassidy finished sixth, while Vergne, Pepe Marti, Oliver Rowland and Norman Nato respectively rounded out the points positions, with Wehrlein 14th – one above da Costa and five in front of Dennis.
Although Wehrlein still took the crown, he was still frustrated post-race claiming “it’s one of the most unsporty and unfair things I have seen – how Antonio drove”.
“That’s how it is if you have enemies in the paddock,” he added. “Still, we made it, and there is another message: I don’t forget things.
“So, yeah. Let’s rock, let’s have a good off-season, and next year I won’t forget what happened here.”
Formula E London E-Prix: Race 2 Results
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– The Autosport.com Team
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