Born and raised in Sigmaringen to a German father and a Mauritian mother, Wehrlein began karting aged eight, winning several regional championships before progressing to junior formulae in 2010.

He won his first championship at the ADAC Formel Masters in 2011, before graduating to the Formula 3 Euro Series, where he finished runner-up in his debut season.

A member of the Mercedes Junior Team since 2014, Wehrlein signed for Manor in 2016, making his Formula One debut at the Australian Grand Prix.

In 2024, Wehrlein won his first World Championship after winning three ePrix amidst a close title battle with Mitch Evans.

In 2014, he switched teams to HWA where he became the youngest driver in the series history to claim pole position and win a race on route to 8th in the championship with 46 points collected.

On 7 February 2018, it was announced that Wehrlein would return to DTM with Mercedes-AMG's HWA Team after Mercedes were unable to find him a seat in Formula One.

[23] Despite being fit to take part in the Australian Grand Prix, he later withdrew after participating in the first two practice sessions, with Giovinazzi replacing him for the rest of the race weekend.

He did not lose a single one of the places he gained, although a five-second penalty for a pit entry violation cost him seventh to Carlos Sainz Jr.[27] His race at the Monaco Grand Prix ended when, on the 57th lap, Jenson Button tried to lunge down the inside at Portier but succeeded in flipping the Sauber onto its side against the barriers, necessitating another scan of his back.

[28] He scored his second points finish of the season in the chaotic Azerbaijan Grand Prix after fighting hard with his teammate Marcus Ericsson for 10th position.

[38] Wehrlein took pole at the Puebla ePrix and crossed the finish line first, before being disqualified after his team failed to declare his tyre set.

Wehrlein took pole in the championship's third round at the Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez in Mexico City and went on to win the race, claiming his and Porsche's maiden Formula E victory as well as Porsche's first 1-2 finish, with Lotterer crossing the line in second place, making him the first black person and first person of colour to win a Formula E race.

[42][43] A fourth place in Hyderabad extended his advantage to Jake Dennis in the standings, however the German crashed out of the Cape Town ePrix on the opening lap, missing his braking point and colliding with the back of Sébastien Buemi's car.

[44] Wehrlein went on to finish in the points in all remaining races, though he would fall back in the title battle with just one further podium coming in the form of a victory in Jakarta.

[45] He and Porsche ended up fourth in the respective championships, as a perceived qualifying weakness was held responsible for the team losing to its customer Andretti.

[49] The maiden Misano ePrix proved to be a double-edged sword for Wehrlein, who after crashing into Jean-Éric Vergne in race 1 profited from an energy miscalculation by Oliver Rowland and the Nissan team to inherit victory on the last lap.

[53] Following a scrappy Berlin weekend, one in which Wehrlein came to blows multiple times with reigning champion Jake Dennis, the German finished second in the first race at Shanghai, losing the lead on the final lap to Mitch Evans but keeping second against Nick Cassidy with an aggressive defence that led to contact between the two cars.

[54][55][56] On Sunday, a clash with Sam Bird forced Wehrlein to pit for a new front wing, leaving him to finish outside of the points.

[57] Wehrlein gained points against championship leader Cassidy with two top ten finishes at Portland, going into the final round at London with a 12-point deficit to the Kiwi.