Pascal Wehrlein: “Winning the title is an amazing feeling”

Mercedes AMG’s driver Pascal Wehrlein secured on Saturday the drivers’ title in the 2015 Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters season, one of the most battled in recent years. The HWA AG driver became also the youngest ever driver to become the series’ champion, and has a bright future ahead.

Wehrlein became champion only one day before his 21st birthday. The driver from HWA AG was elated at his achievement: “This is an amazing feeling”, Wehrlein told TouringCarTimes. “It’s the biggest achievement of my racing career, definitely the most important, to be the DTM champion. Also, this is the first title I win for a big brand like Mercedes, and this is very important for me. Also, we not only won the Drivers’ title, but we also secured the Teams’ crown together with Christian Vietoris.”

Wehrlein has just completed his third DTM season, having scored his first victory just over a year ago at the Lausitzring. Talking about how much he has evolved as a driver, Wehrlein was clear that he has improved as a driver: “If you think where I was last year, I had just come into HWA AG, and was the fifth driver of the team. We were starting to work together, to know each other. If you also take into account that I was only 20 years old yesterday when I won the title, you can imagine that I have changed a lot as a person and as a driver this year”.

“This season I was more integrated in the team, and we knew each other better. Despite that the year wasn’t easy, we made it together, we won the title, and this is good for us”, Wehrlein added.

At the season start, Mercedes wasn’t a favourite, but eventually Pascal Wehrlein emerged as the leading driver for the team. Asked when it became real for him that he was a championship contender, the 21-year old said: “We weren’t the strongest at any point in the season. But it was in Spielberg when I realised that, maybe, we could do this. I was leading the standings after the first race, and lost that position the following day, but it was then when I thought ‘ok, this could be the year for us’”.

Mercedes wasn’t the strongest car, yet Pascal Wehrlein managed to prevail over the Audi contingent. The 2015 champion has a clear reason for his success: “I think that, knowing that we didn’t have the fastest car, the key for us was consistency. I only got two victories this season but, if you look at my results, you will see that I scored points in most races. We had better and worst weekends, times when the car was faster and others where we were penalised by the Performance Weights but, if you see the classifications, you will see that even in Zandvoort and Oschersleben, where we were in disadvantage, I managed to score points. And that’s how we did it, working hard and being consistent.”

One of Wehrlein’s main contenders for the title was Mattias Ekström, twice-champion, very experienced and known for being relentless when it comes to getting the job done. Asked how it was, being so young, to fight against somebody so experienced, Pascal Wehrlein replied: “Yes, definitely Ekström is a very strong driver and one you can count to do a good job. He’s also almost twice my age. Of course I felt pressure at some points, but I just focussed on doing my job the best I could. It was hard work, but it was worth it.”

The future has many open avenues for Wehrlein, who could remain in the DTM, but who is also tipped for a move towards Formula 1. The young German remains calm about his options for the future: “Certainly, there will be discussions and decisions made in the coming weeks and months, and my future is in the hands of Mercedes. I will be where they want me to be. It would be nice to be able to race in Formula 1 but, if they decide I should stay in the DTM, I’m happy to do so. I only hope I can race with the number 94 again.”

Pascal Wehrlein, the 2015 DTM drivers’ champion, has just completed his third season in the DTM, and counts three race victories and one pole position in 38 races.