A life-changing IndyCar crash at Pocono in 2018 abruptly cut short Robert Wickens’ top-flight profession just as he began to satisfy the promise he had shown climbing the junior ranks. Before a high-speed crash during a race that severed his spinal cord, paralyzing him and confining him to a wheelchair, the Canadian had been right back in motion, scoring 4 podiums and a debut pole position in St. Petersburg with Schmidt Peterson Motorsports.
However, despite his injuries, Wickens has recovered and is racing in touring cars again, winning the Michelin Pilot Challenge TCR class in 2023. Earlier this yr, he returned to the cockpit of a single-seater for the primary time, completing a number of laps in a Formula E Gen3 machine at Portland, with a view to returning to motorsport “at an elite level” in the long run.
While within the paddock, he bumped into old friend Gary Paffett, with whom Wickens raced within the DTM during a six-year stint at Mercedes, which opened the door to IndyCar. Alongside Paffett, Wickens learned from certainly one of the championship’s best drivers and considers the Briton his favourite teammate.
“Gary and I just got on really well and we’ve been team-mates for the last four years,” Wickens, now 35, tells Motorsport.com. “We’ve always shared the same driver’s room and we’ve just become really close off the track on a personal level.”
Paffett, now the McLaren Formula E team principal, then added a second title in 2018 to his first in 2005 and claimed 23 race wins during a 15-year DTM profession that included the competition’s latest peak. Wickens finished a better of fourth in 2016, having taken six wins during his championship profession with HWA, after learning to trust Paffett’s word completely.
“He was just the most honest and truthful teammate I’ve ever met,” Wickens explains. “I learned from him and absorbed the whole lot I could. The incontrovertible fact that he was so confident that he didn’t must hide anything was something I admired.
Wickens, whose photo might be seen in 2013 chasing Paffett in Oschersleben, has learned to trust his advice implicitly
Photo: XPB Images
“Once I felt I could match him, we had a great dialogue as team-mates. We got to the point where if Gary told me he was flat in a corner, I would do the same on the next lap.”
In addition to trust, Wickens also learned in regards to the unique nature of the DTM, where teamwork was key to success against full manufacturer line-ups from Audi and BMW. Drivers competing for a similar manufacturer in several teams needed to support one another, driving tactically to make sure the best-placed driver from each make maximised his result while taking points off the highest contender.
The must win races was paramount for Wickens to maneuver up the single-seater classification. A runner-up within the 2009 MSV Formula 2, he moved sideways to GP3 and finished second again before returning in 2011 to the Formula Renault 3.5 Series, by which he had previously competed in 2008. This time he beat Carlin team-mate Jean-Eric Vergne to the title, paving the best way for a seat with Mercedes Mucke Motorsport within the DTM.
Wickens was promoted to the leading HWA team in 2013 and took one win each season until 2016, when he doubled his haul. But because of Paffett, he learned he could still make a useful contribution without having to face on the rostrum every weekend.
“He was simply a professional in every way and made me realize that in a scenario like this, winning the race isn’t everything.”
Robert Wickens
“It’s always nice to beat your team-mate, but the fact is that at that time DTM was a very team-oriented game and as a young, ambitious driver it was difficult at the beginning,” admits Wickens.
“Looking at how well [Paffett] he did that and played for the team, he was just knowledgeable in every way and he made me realize that winning the race isn't the whole lot on this scenario. You can still make an enormous difference in your team and truthfully keep your job.
“I used to be convinced that I needed to win to maintain my job because I didn't have any money within the junior categories. If I didn't win or achieve the junior categories, my profession would probably be over because I wouldn't have one other opportunity, so I all the time thought, 'I actually have to perform.'
“And then I actually realized, ‘You’re not going to win this – how can I still be useful?’ That was huge for me. Even though [Paffett] he never told me that, just watching him do it, he's knowledgeable. I learned the way to perfect my craft as knowledgeable driver from Gary.”
Paffett showed Wickens that a driver's value doesn't all the time must be measured in victories.
Photo: Alexander Trienitz
