Racing lines: Meet the EV-touting racer who's defending the NHS

Sims audibly tightens when he recalls his own mistakes this term, the first in Santiago when he understeered into a wall while running 11th and the second a final-lap collision with Venturi’s Edoardo Mortara in Marrakech while fighting for fifth. “It was a light touch from him, moving across on me in the braking zone, but it damaged the driveshafts,” he says. “In that moment, you think ‘I shouldn’t have gone for the move, I should have played it safe’. Then you think back to the eight people I overtook in Mexico and the five I overtook in Marrakech up to that point. I was aggressive when I needed to be and they worked out fine. It’s such a difficult balancing act. When you’re fast you have got to push the issue – and sometimes it goes wrong.”

A true EV disciple

Rather than picking over performances, what really animates Sims (relatively speaking…) is when I raise a delicate point about Formula E itself. Despite the high manufacturer involvement and decent TV coverage, there’s still a big degree of scepticism and even hostility from some ‘petrolheads’ – including many who read Autocar. “I don’t have a massive problem with some not liking it,” he says. “If people love the sound of a screaming V8, fair enough. I personally don’t. I think there is more to Formula E and I would encourage people to look at it without bias or trying to compare it with Formula 1. There’s so much interesting technology, we’re developing stuff that is genuinely relevant to road car development at the moment. It’s not in the extremely niche part of the industry F1 is in. And you don’t need to be interested in eco-friendly transportation to be interested in Formula E. It’s exciting sport, too.”

Many F1 people are among the all-electric sceptics, as our recent interview with Renault F1 boss Cyril Abiteboul highlighted. But Sims was an early convert to EVs in his personal life and remains convinced which series is the most relevant to the real world. “It’s only going in one direction,” he says. “I genuinely believe EVs for all personal transportation is going to be the viable option for the next 50 to 60 years. I can’t see any other technology that will be sufficiently better than battery vehicles. Hydrogen for me is a moot point because at the moment it’s extremely inefficient to produce and get into a pump format, and ultimately it is still just another form of electric vehicle, with a fuel cell providing the electricity. Formula E is totally relevant to what OEMs are and will be manufacturing for the foreseeable future.”