Born in Germany in 1994, the German-Mauritian driver started his racing career in karts in 2003. Progressing to the Formula 3 Euro Series in 2012, Wehrlein finished second in the championship that same year to Dani Juncadella.

The following year, Wehrlein made his debut in the DTM at the age of 18 with Mucke Motorsport before switching to rival team HWA in 2014. Here, 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 to his name. That same year, it was announced that the German driver would act as a reserve driver for the Mercedes-AMG Formula One squad.

In 2015, Wehrlein clinched the DTM championship title with five podiums, one fastest lap and two wins while making his Formula One debut with Manor Racing in 2016. Wehrlein scored his and Manor's only point of the season at the Austrian Grand Prix with a tenth-place finish.

With Manor folding in early 2017, Wehrlein moved to Sauber Formula One team where he scored the team's only points of the season before moving back to the DTM the following year to drive for HWA, where he finished 8th in the championship.

On the first day of Formula E pre-2018/19 season testing in Valencia, Mahindra Racing announced that Wehrlein would partner with Jerome d'Ambrosio for the Indian team's 2018/19 campaign. His race number 94 is a reference to his birth year. The two drivers pilot Mahindra's Gen2 M5 Electro as the team looks to build on a solid fourth-place finish at the end of 2017/18 season.