Nico Mueller always felt like an inevitable name to be above the garage opposite Pascal Wehrlein this coming Formula E season, and it wasn’t just because he was already a factory Porsche driver.
Despite Porsche having looked around the likes of Evans, Frijns and Hughes, with some contact with all three, it felt like only a cursory glance rather than a hungry stare.
“There’s a reason why he (Mueller) got the contract,” so says Porsche Director for Formula E, Florian Modlinger, who spoke to Formula E Notebook ahead of the announcement today.
“When you see the performance he had alongside Robin Frijns and Lucas di Grassi at ABT and then you clearly look also how he can handle the Porsche car, which was in the season with Andretti.”
That may be the case but even Modlinger must have been surprised with Mueller’s toils as Jake Dennis’ teammate in the first half of last season, especially the accidents, of which there were many.
“The season start was not what we expected, clearly,” admits Modlinger.
“But then when you see the later results, the main focus from Jakarta onwards, where he showed up in race results and also in quali performance, you need always to consider it’s not your own team.
“We observed him in the Porsche 99X electric, and also from the tests he did with Andretti, because we also clearly and carefully monitored them, and then the decision came to put him in the car.”
“He’s a hard worker and we have trust in him, and I know him also from the past, how he works, and I’m confident that he will deliver within our team.”
Modlinger has never engineered Mueller but he has led a project with him as technical director in the DTM between 2018 and 2022, with Mueller finishing runner-up in both 2019 and 2020.
But he knows through the engineers that worked with Mueller all about his well-known work ethic and the positivity he brings to teams.
“First of all, he’s a very professional race driver, nice human being. This means, always very good for team atmosphere, a team player, but really working hard,” adds Modlinger.
“You can call him whenever you want, for a sim session, for rollout, for a test drive, he’s an extremely hard worker.”
He will need to continue that graft if he is to stack up against 2024 champion Wehrlein, who across three seasons got the better of former teammate Antonio Felix da Costa on points.
Mueller will also be aware that his integration to the Gen4 car will also be clear evidence of whether his time at Porsche is anywhere near as long-term as Wehrlein’s appears to be.
