| Alexander Sims | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
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| Driver Details | |||||
| Nationality |  British
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| P.o.B. | London, UK
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| D.o.B. | 15 March 1988 | ||||
| Début |  2018 Ad Diriyah E-Prix
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| Final Race |  2021 Berlin E-Prix II
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| Best | 1st (x1) | ||||
| First Win | 2019 Diriyah E-Prix II
| ||||
| Teams |  Andretti Autosport
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| Formula E Career | |||||
| Entries | 55 (55 Starts) | ||||
| Wins | 1 | ||||
| Poles | 3 | ||||
| F.L.s | 1 | ||||
| T.P.s | 174 | ||||
| Podiums | 3 | ||||
| FanBoosts | 1 | ||||
| Duel Record | |||||
| Duels | 7 | ||||
| Quarters | Semis | Finals | |||
| W | L | W | L | W | L |
| 2 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 1 |
Alexander Sims (born 15 March 1988 in London, U.K.) is a British racing driver who competes in the 2019/20 ABB FIA Formula E Championship for BMW i Andretti Motorsport.[1][2] A factory driver for the Bavarian car manufacturer's GT programme, Sims joined the BMW FE project ahead of their debut season in 2018/19 having helped develop their World Endurance Championship programme.[2]
Sims would have a mixed debut season, with a collision with teammate António Félix da Costa while fighting for the lead of the 2019 Marrakech E-Prix overshadowing his thirteenth place in the Championship.[3]
Background[]
Sims made his racing debut in karting at the age of ten, steadily rising through the ranks ahead of a move into car racing in 2006.[4] That year, Sims joined the Formula Renault UK 2.0 Winter Series in his native Britain, before moving to the full series for 2007.[4] After two seasons racing Sims ended the 2008 campaign as runner-up, earning him the McLaren Autosport BRDC Award for 2008 and a seat in the Formula 3 Euro Series.[4]
Formula Dreams[]
Sims' step into F3 would be a strong one, with the Brit ending the 2009 season in fourth with a handful of podiums and a victory.[4] A near identical season followed in 2010, before Sims made the step to the GP3 Series for 2011, taking a single victory.[4] However, Sims was unable to secure a second season of GP3 in 2012, with the Brit ultimately getting one-time drives in F3, the European Le Mans Series and the 24 Hours of Le Mans.[4]
GT Generation[]
Another bit-part season followed for Sims in 2013, with various appearances in F3, GP3 and the Blancpain Endurance Series.[4] The latter concept seemed to grab Sims for 2014, with the Brit joining the British GT Championship for the season, ending the year in third.[4] Another impressive campaign followed in 2015 with Sims just missing out on the title, while the Brit also enjoyed his best result at the Macau Grand Prix, finishing third.[4]
Those successes attracted the attentions of BMW to Sims' career, whom duly signed the Brit to join their various GT programmes for 2016.[5] He was subsequently placed in the BMW backed Rowe Racing team in the Blancpain GT Series, with other drives in F3 and British GT.[4] For 2017 Sims was placed in BMW's United Sports Car Championship team, as well as the development programme for the new BMW M6 GTE.[4]
Come the end of 2017 Sims would just miss out on his first major Championship title, finishing second in the USCC.[4] Regardless, BMW would re-sign the Brit for 2018, placing him in their USCC and World Endurance Championship teams, as well as securing the Brit a seat in their new Formula E team.[4]
Formula E History[]
Sims' first taste of a Formula E car came during in 2014, with the Brit having tested the Spark-Renault SRT_01E during its development phase.[2] That eventually developed into a reserve roll with Andretti Formula E during 2016/17, with Sims almost making his debut at the 2017 Monaco ePrix in place of Robin Frijns.[6] For 2017/18 Sims became the main development and reserve driver for Andretti, notably taking part in the 2017 Valencia Test, ahead of BMW arriving to take over the team in 2018/19.[5]
BMW Bounty[]
After a year of testing for Andretti and BMW, Sims was officially revealed as a race driver for their combined entry in 2018/19, joining António Félix da Costa.[2] A quiet start to the season saw Sims overshadowed by his more experienced teammate, failing to score as da Costa swept to victory in Ad Diriyah.[7] He would, however, prove far more competitive at the following Marrakech E-Prix, fighting for the lead with da Costa in the closing stages.[3]
Indeed, it was in the midst of that late battle that Sims' season was effectively defined, for the Brit threw a lunge at his teammate with a few minutes to go, only for the pair to contrive to hit each other.[3] The collision left da Costa in the wall and dumped Sims back to fourth, after the pair had established a small lead over the rest of the field.[3] Afterwards the BMW-Andretti team implemented new rules of engagement for the 2019 Santiago E-Prix onward, where Sims claimed seventh place.[8]
That proved to be Sims' last point score until the 2019 Berlin E-Prix, with a mix of poor fortune, collisions and poor qualifying performances costing Sims a title bid, with the Brit actively moving aside for teammate da Costa at several rounds including Monte Carlo.[9] Seventh in Berlin was followed by eleventh in Bern, before the Brit claimed fourth in 2019 New York City E-Prix I, having again moved aside for da Costa as the Portuguese ace tried in vain to fight for the crown.[10] Sims followed that up with his best performance of the season since Marrakech, claiming second place in the season ending New York City E-Prix II having claimed his first pole position.[11]
Come the end of the season Sims had scored 57 points and thirteenth in the Championship.[11]
Sim-son Two[]
Sims' position within the BMW-Andretti team was left in an unknown state at the conclusion of the 2018/19 season, as da Costa left the team to be replaced by German youth Maximilian Günther.[12] Indeed, Sims would have to wait until the eve of the 2019 Valencia Test to officially be announced for 2019/20, becoming the team's de facto lead driver.[1] However, Sims would not only repay their faith with a strong run at said test, demonstrating formidable long run pace, but would open the sixth FE season as a major title pretender.[13]
Full Formula E Record[]
Shown below are a series of tables outlining Alexander Sims' career in Formula E in statistical form.
Formula E Entries[]
The list below includes all of the teams and cars, as well as overall finishing positions for Alexander Sims during their FE career:
| Alexander Sims' Overall Formula E Record | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Entrant | No. | Car | Pos. | Pts. |
| 2018/19 | BMW i Andretti Motorsport[2]
|
27 | BMW iFE.18 | 13th | 57 |
| 2019/20 | BMW i Andretti Motorsport[1]
|
27 | BMW | ||
Career Results[]
Below is a table showing Alexander Sims' full Formula E record.
| FIA Formula E Championship Record | ||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Rounds | Pos. | Pts. | |||||||||||||
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | |||
| 2018/19 |
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13th | 57 | |
| 18th | 4th | 7th | 14th | Ret | Ret | 17th | Ret | 13th | 7th | 11th | 4th | 2nd | ||||
| 2019/20 | 
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13th | 49 | |||
| 8th | 1st | Ret | 5th | Ret | 9th | 19th | 10th | 13th | 11th | 13th | ||||||
References[]
Videos and Images:
References:
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 'Sims to remain with BMW i Andretti Motorsport for 2019/20 campaign', fiaformulae.com, (FIA Formula E, 09/10/2019), https://www.fiaformulae.com/en/news/2019/october/sims-to-race-for-bmw-in-2019-20-season, (Accessed 09/10/2019)
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 'BMW takes covers off season five challenger', fiaformulae.com, (FIA Formula E, 14/09/2018), http://www.fiaformulae.com/en/news/2018/september/bmw-takes-covers-off-season-five-challenger/, (Accessed 14/09/2018)
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 'Mahindra's d'Ambrosio made up with manic win in Marrakesh', fiaformulae.com, (FIA Formula E, 12/01/2019), https://www.fiaformulae.com/en/news/2019/january/race-report---2019-marrakesh, (Accessed 12/01/2019)
- ↑ 4.00 4.01 4.02 4.03 4.04 4.05 4.06 4.07 4.08 4.09 4.10 4.11 4.12 Placeholder
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 'Nine manufacturers homologated for Season 5', fiaformulae.com, (FIA Formula E, 21/03/2017), http://www.fiaformulae.com/en/news/2017/march/nine-season-5-powertrain-manufacturers-homologated/, (Accessed 22/03/2017)
- ↑ Sam Smith, 'Sims on standby for Frijns at Monaco', motorsport.com, (Motorsport, 08/05/2017), https://www.motorsport.com/formula-e/news/sims-on-standby-for-frijns-at-monaco-903446/903446/, (Accessed 14/09/2018)
- ↑ 'Race Report: Da Costa - 'We did it baby, we're back!', fiaformulae.com, (FIA Formula E, 15/12/2018), https://www.fiaformulae.com/en/news/2018/december/race-report-saudi, (Accessed 15/12/2018)
- ↑ 'Bird storms to victory in sweltering Santiago showdown', fiaformulae.com, (FIA Formula E, 26/01/2019), https://www.fiaformulae.com/en/news/2019/january/race-report-santiago-2019, (Accessed 27/01/2019)
- ↑ 'Di Grassi victorious in the battle for Berlin, home race victory for Audi', fiaformulae.com, (FIA Formula E, 25/05/2019), https://www.fiaformulae.com/en/news/2019/may/race-report-berlin-2019, (Accessed 25/05/2019)
- ↑ 'Buemi wins in New York but disaster for Champ Vergne extends title challenge', fiaformulae.com, (FIA Formula E, 13/07/2019), https://www.fiaformulae.com/en/news/2019/july/race-report-nyc-2019, (Accessed 14/07/2019)
- ↑ 11.0 11.1 'Frijns wins while Vergne claims historic two-time Championship title in New York', fiaformulae.com, (FIA Formula E, 14/07/2019), https://www.fiaformulae.com/en/news/2019/july/race-report-nyc-2-2019, (Accessed 15/07/2019)
- ↑ 'BREAKING: Guenther secures BMW drive while Da Costa parts ways', fiaformulae.com, (FIA Formula E, 09/09/2019), https://www.fiaformulae.com/en/news/2019/september/guenther-joins-bmw-as-da-costa-parts-ways, (Accessed 09/09/2019)
- ↑ Cite error: Invalid
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