Pascal Wehrlein arrives in Japan this weekend with a mathematical shot at wrapping up a second Formula E world title — and no intention of thinking about it.
The Porsche driver leads the standings by nine points from Jaguar's Mitch Evans heading into the Tokyo E-Prix, a double-header on Saturday and Sunday that stages the championship's first night races at Tokyo Big Sight. With four races left across Tokyo and the season-closing London finale, the title is his to lose. On paper, it is also still anyone's to win.
To be crowned in Tokyo, Wehrlein would need to open up a 59-point advantage across the two rounds — a near-impossibility from his current nine-point margin. He is not entertaining the idea.
"I don't feel like it's match point yet, but yeah, mathematically it's possible," Wehrlein told RacingNews365. "Mathematically, I also think 15 drivers can still win this championship. We need to be realistic."
The caution reflects how volatile the run-in has become. In the final season of the Gen3 era, as many as six drivers from five teams have led or challenged for the crown at different points, with just 38 points covering Wehrlein down to Mahindra's Edoardo Mortara in sixth. Evans, his Jaguar team-mate António Félix da Costa, Oliver Rowland and Andretti's Jake Dennis have all taken turns in the fight.
"I don't see it that way, that everyone is hunting me. Everyone is chasing the championship," he said. "Two races ago I was fourth in the standings, and I just had one good weekend where I scored a lot of points, and now I'm in the lead. Things can change so quickly."
His method, he insists, will not change. "We're focusing on ourselves and on being as far at the front as we can," Wehrlein added. "We take it session by session. I'm not a big fan of doing all these mathematical calculations. It just takes focus away."
Evans, who handed the lead back to Wehrlein after scoring only four points in a wet Shanghai weekend, faces an awkward statistic in Tokyo: he has never finished a race there. Jaguar as a whole has managed just 12 points across three previous Tokyo races, all of them scored by Nick Cassidy, who has since moved to Citroën.
Team principal Ian James is unmoved by the record.
"I'm not overly concerned about it, really, because I think Jaguar turned a corner last year after Tokyo," James told RacingNews365. "I think there was a greater understanding of the Gen3 Evo package that we had, which unlocked the sort of performance and consistency we saw in the second half of last season."
The weekend also carries an emotional undercurrent, with the paddock set to pay tribute to Citroën team boss Cyril Blais, who died last week at 46. For the title protagonists, the maths is unavoidable even if Wehrlein refuses to run it: whoever leaves Tokyo in front takes the momentum — and the pressure — on to London.
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*Originally published on [Motorsports Global](https://motorsports.global/article/wehrlein-leads-six-way-formula-e-title-fight-into-tokyo). Visit for full coverage.*