Wehrlein

Pascal Wehrlein began karting in 2004 at the age of nine, a path that would lead him from his birthplace of Sigmaringen, Germany, into the upper tiers of motorsport. He holds dual German and Mauritian nationality—his mother was born in Mauritius. His father, Richard Wehrlein, a former competitor in German boxing championships, owns a CNC machining company in Ostrach.

Wehrlein’s transition from karts to single-seaters came in 2010 when he entered the ADAC Formel Masters, a junior formula series in Germany. He won the championship the following year, 2011, securing the title with a dominant season. That success propelled him to the FIA Formula 3 European Championship in 2012, where he finished runner-up with one victory and ten podium finishes. These early results established him as one of Germany’s promising young drivers and set the stage for his move into the DTM and, eventually, Formula One.

By the time he was 17, Pascal Wehrlein had already won the ADAC Formula Masters championship, a feeder series in Germany that served as his launching pad into single-seaters. That was 2011. The following year, he moved to the FIA Formula 3 European Championship, finishing runner-up with a single win and ten podiums. The results caught the attention of Mercedes-Benz, which signed him to its young driver program and placed him in the Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters (DTM) for 2013. At 19, he was one of the youngest drivers in the series’ history. He won the DTM title in 2015 driving for HWA AG, becoming the first driver to win both the Formula Masters and DTM championships. That performance, combined with Mercedes’ backing, earned him a Formula 1 seat with Manor Marussia for the 2016 season.

Pascal Wehrlein’s Formula 1 career spanned just 39 races across two seasons, a brief stint that never yielded a point but placed him in the machinery of two struggling teams. He debuted in 2016 with Manor Marussia, the backmarker outfit that had scraped together a survival budget. Driving the MRT05, Wehrlein managed a best finish of 10th in Austria, scoring no points for the team but outperforming his teammate Rio Haryanto before the latter was replaced mid-season. That relative consistency earned him a seat at Sauber for 2017, a team in the midst of a slow rebuild. The C36 was uncompetitive, and Wehrlein’s year was defined by a single flash of speed: qualifying 7th in Austria, where he finished 8th—his only points finish in F1. Injuries interrupted his rhythm; a crash at the Race of Champions sidelined him for pre-season testing, and he missed the season-opening Australian Grand Prix. By year’s end, Sauber replaced him with Charles Leclerc, and Wehrlein, then 23, exited the sport without a podium, pole, or fastest lap. He never returned.

Wehrlein holds dual German and Mauritian citizenship, a heritage he traces to his mother, who was born in Mauritius. His father, Richard Wehrlein, is a former amateur boxer who competed in German championships and now owns a CNC machining company in Ostrach. Since 2019, Wehrlein has been in a relationship with Sibel Levent; the couple became engaged and in 2023 announced the birth of their daughter, Soleya. The following year, he relocated to Kreuzlingen, Switzerland, where the family now resides.

Pascal Wehrlein’s Formula 1 career ended after just two seasons and 39 starts, a brief tenure that yielded no points, no podiums, and a reputation as a driver who deserved a better car. But his departure from the sport in 2017 was not the end of his professional racing life; it was a pivot. Within months, he had signed with Mahindra Racing for the 2018–19 Formula E season, transitioning to the all-electric championship where he would eventually find his footing. After a single season with Mahindra, he moved to the Porsche-powered TAG Heuer team, a switch that would define his post-F1 identity. In the 2023–24 season, Wehrlein won the Formula E World Championship, a title that retroactively reframed his F1 stint as a prelude rather than a peak. He remains with Porsche in Formula E, competing at the front of the grid and, as of the 2024–25 season, finishing third in the standings. The man who could not score a single point in Formula 1 now holds a world championship trophy.

After two seasons in Formula One with Manor and Sauber, Pascal Wehrlein found his competitive home elsewhere. Since 2018, he has been a full-time driver in the all-electric Formula E World Championship. He currently races for the TAG Heuer Porsche Formula E Team, a role he has held since the 2020-21 season. In the 2023-24 campaign, Wehrlein captured the Formula E world drivers’ title, delivering Porsche its first championship in the series. He remains with the team for the 2024-25 season, where he is competing for a second title.

Wehrlein lives in Kreuzlingen, Switzerland, a lakeside town he moved to in 2024. He continues to race under the German flag, though he also holds Mauritian citizenship through his mother.

His brief Formula One career yielded zero points from 39 starts across two seasons with Manor and Sauber, a statistical blank that undersells the arc of his story. Wehrlein’s legacy is not written in grand prix results but in what he did after: in 2023–24 he became the Formula E world champion with TAG Heuer Porsche, a title that places him among the few drivers to win a major FIA world championship after leaving F1. That achievement reframes his two years in the sport, casting him less as a driver who failed to score and more as one who found the machinery and category that matched his talent. He remains the youngest driver to win the Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters, taking the title in 2015 at age 21 with HWA AG, a record that still stands. In Formula E he has established himself as a front-runner, finishing fourth in 2022–23 and third in 2024–25. His career is a counterpoint to the assumption that F1 is the only measure of a driver’s worth.