Alexander Sims (born 15 March 1988, in

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

) is a British professional racing driver, currently competing in the ABB FIA Formula E Championship for Mahindra Racing. Previously Sims has driven for BMW i Andretti Motorsport for two years, winning one race in

Saudi Arabia Saudi Arabia, officially the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), is a country in Western Asia. It covers the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula, and has a land area of about , making it the List of Asian countries by area, fifth-largest country in Asia ...

. Sims was the winner of the 2008 McLaren Autosport BRDC Award for promising young British drivers.

Career

Karting

Sims' kart racing career started in 1998 when he started competing in club competitions. In 2000, Sims had a successful campaign, he won the Super 1 MSA Cadet Championship, the Kartmasters Grand Prix, the 5 Nations Cup and came second in the Champions of The Future British Cadet Championship. Sims latterly added the JICA British Championship, the Monaco Kart Cup, three British Grands Prix and the Formula A World Championship, before moving into

single-seaters An open-wheel single-seater (often known as formula car) is a car with the wheels outside the car's main body, and usually having only one seat. Open-wheel cars contrast with street cars, sports cars, stock cars, and touring cars, which have t ...

in 2006.

Formula Renault

Having started his car racing career in late 2006, Sims scored a second place in his first ever car race in the Formula Renault UK 2.0 Winter Series, before finishing ninth in the championship standings. In 2007, Sims raced in the main series with Manor Competition. He finished eighth overall, after taking one win at Donington Park, and second places at

Brands Hatch Brands Hatch is a motor racing circuit in West Kingsdown, Kent, England, United Kingdom. Originally used as a grasstrack motorcycle circuit on farmland, it hosted 12 runnings of the British Grand Prix between 1964 and 1986 and currently hos ...

and Thruxton. He also forayed into the French and Northern European Cup championships during the season and added his first pole position in the category, at Val de Vienne during the French championship. Sims also contested the 2007 UK Winter Series, but failed to finish in three of the four races. Sims remained with Manor Competition in Formula Renault UK for 2008, and challenged for the championship. Finishing every race, Sims actually scored the most points over the course of the championship, with 473. However, Formula Renault UK employs a points system that means that a driver must drop their two worst scores over the season. Unfortunately for Sims, his worst scores were a pair of ninths worth 24 points, and Adam Christodoulou, his main championship rival dropped two retirements. Thus, a 24-point swing resulted in Christodoulou turning a one-point deficit into a 23-point championship win. He also contested the final round of the Formula BMW Pacific in

Macau Macau or Macao (; ; ; ), officially the Macao Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China (MSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China in the western Pearl River Delta by the South China Sea. With a pop ...

, finishing eighth with the fastest lap. In December 2008, Sims won the McLaren Autosport BRDC Award.

Formula Three

At the 2008 Autosport Awards ceremony, Sims announced his plans to race with German team Mücke Motorsport in the Formula 3 Euro Series. In a season dominated by

Jules Bianchi Jules Lucien André Bianchi (; 3 August 1989 – 17 July 2015) was a French motor racing driver who drove for the Marussia F1 Team in the FIA Formula One World Championship. Bianchi had previously raced in Formula Renault 3.5, GP2 and Form ...

, Sims took fourth place in the championship, with a win at the Nürburgring and four second places. He also took part in two rounds of the International Formula Master series, with two fourth places at the Hungaroring being his best results. For 2010, Sims would move to ART Grand Prix.

Sports car racing

In 2012, Sims drove a Lola-Judd LMP2 for Status Grand Prix at the 24 Hours of Le Mans and two rounds of the European Le Mans Series. He joined Hexis Racing in 2013 to compete at the Blancpain Endurance Series with a McLaren MP4-12C, partnering with Álvaro Parente and Stef Dusseldorp. In 2014 and 2015, Sims raced at the British GT Championship for Ecurie Ecosse with a BMW Z4. The Brit competed at the 2016 Blancpain GT Series for Rowe Racing with a BMW M6, winning the 24 Hours of Spa. In 2017 he competes at the GT Le Mans class of the IMSA SportsCar Championship with a factory BMW M6. Sims competed in two races of the

2018–19 FIA World Endurance Championship The 2018–19 FIA World Endurance Championship was the seventh season of the FIA World Endurance Championship, an auto racing series co-organised by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA) and the Automobile Club de l'Ouest (ACO). T ...

for BMW Team MTEK.

Formula E

In May 2017, Sims was present at the

Monaco ePrix The Monaco ePrix is a recurring automobile race of the Formula E World Championship which takes place in Monte Carlo, Monaco. Circuit On 18 September 2014 it was announced that Formula E would be racing on a shorter version of the original M ...

as a stand-by option for Robin Frijns. Later that month, he was announced as a development driver for MS Amlin Andretti for the 2017-18 season. He would join BMW for Season 5, partnering Antonio Felix Da Costa. At the final race of the season at the

2019 New York City ePrix The 2019 New York City ePrix (formally the 2019 New York City E-Prix) were a pair of ePrix which were the final two races of the 2018–19 Formula E season held in Brooklyn, New York around the Brooklyn Street Circuit. This was the third run ...

Sims claimed pole position and the first podium of his Formula E career finishing 2nd. Returning with BMW for the 2019–20 Formula E season, Sims won his first race in Formula E at race 2 of the

2019 Diriyah ePrix The 2019 Diriyah ePrix (officially the 2019 ABB FIA Formula E Saudia Diriyah ePrix) was a pair Formula E electric car race held at the Riyadh Street Circuit in the town of Diriyah, north-west of Riyadh, in Saudi Arabia on 22 and 23 November 2 ...

. In August 2020, it was announced that Sims would replace Jerome D’Ambrosio at Mahindra Racing for the

2020–21 Formula E season The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen b ...

, who retired from competitive racing to become deputy team principal at Venturi Racing. Sims ended the season with a podium in the

2021 Rome ePrix The 2021 Rome ePrix was a pair of Formula E Electric motorsport, electric car races held at the Circuito Cittadino dell'EUR in the EUR, Rome, EUR residential and business district of the Italian capital of Rome on 10 and 11 April 2021. It mark ...

, five point scoring finishes, and 54 points, enough for 19th at the end of the year standings. For 2022, Sims would stay with Mahindra, but this time partnered by Oliver Rowland.

Racing record

Career summary

^† As Sims was a guest driver, he was ineligible for points.
^* Season still in progress.

Complete Formula 3 Euro Series results

( key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in ''italics'' indicate fastest lap) ^† Driver did not finish the race, but was classified as he completed over 90% of the race distance.
^‡ As Sims was a guest driver, he was ineligible for championship points.

Complete Auto GP results

( key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; races in ''italics'' indicate fastest lap)

Complete GP3 Series results

( key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in ''italics'' indicate fastest lap)

Complete FIA Formula 3 European Championship results

( key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in ''italics'' indicate fastest lap) ^‡ As Sims was a guest driver, he was ineligible for championship points.

Complete European Le Mans Series results

( key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in ''italics'' indicate fastest lap)

Complete 24 Hours of Le Mans results

Complete British GT Championship results

( key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in ''italics'' indicate fastest lap)

Complete Blancpain GT Series Sprint Cup results

Complete IMSA SportsCar Championship results

( key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in ''italics'' indicate fastest lap)

Complete FIA World Endurance Championship results

( key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; races in ''italics'' indicate fastest lap) ^* Season still in progress.

Complete Formula E results

( key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; races in ''italics'' indicate fastest lap)

References

External links

Official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sims, Alexander 1988 births Living people Sportspeople from London People educated at Stamford School English racing drivers British Formula Renault 2.0 drivers Formula 3 Euro Series drivers Formula Renault 2.0 NEC drivers French Formula Renault 2.0 drivers Formula Renault 2.0 WEC drivers Formula Renault Eurocup drivers GP3 Series drivers British Formula Three Championship drivers 24 Hours of Daytona drivers 24 Hours of Le Mans drivers FIA Formula 3 European Championship drivers Blancpain Endurance Series drivers 24 Hours of Spa drivers British GT Championship drivers WeatherTech SportsCar Championship drivers Formula E drivers Formula BMW Pacific drivers International Formula Master drivers Auto GP drivers European Le Mans Series drivers FIA World Endurance Championship drivers Manor Motorsport drivers SG Formula drivers Team Meritus drivers Mücke Motorsport drivers ART Grand Prix drivers Charouz Racing System drivers Double R Racing drivers Status Grand Prix drivers Motopark Academy drivers T-Sport drivers Carlin racing drivers Ecurie Ecosse drivers Hitech Grand Prix drivers Rowe Racing drivers BMW M drivers Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing drivers Andretti Autosport drivers Mahindra Racing drivers Corvette Racing drivers TOM'S drivers Karting World Championship drivers Nürburgring 24 Hours drivers