Formula E rookie Alexander Sims ♑says he is not expecting to be at t🐎he front of the 2018/19 field at the season five opener in Saudi Arabia next month.

Sims topped the timesheets on two of the three days of pre-season testing at Valencia in October as the BMW Andretti squad comple🌞ted a clean sweep at the Circuit Ricardo Tormo.

Despite BMW’s promising pace, Sims was keen to downplay expectations heading into the inaugural Ad Diriꦕyah E-Prix, which takeꦿs place on December 15.

“So far things look good,” Sims said.

“But it’s one thing to do a fast lap at Valencia where the open circuit doesn’t punish you for every small mistake, whereas on a narrow street circu🎐it things look very different.

“I think the♐ BMW iFE.18 is a great car but for me as a rookie the race we🙈ekends will be a big challenge.

“I don’t expect to be on t𒁏op from race one. I will have to🥃 learn a lot in such a difficult and competitive championship as Formula E.

“Let’s say I’m cautiously optimist🃏ic. I’m really confident in the work the BMW i Andretti Motorsport Team will do.

“T✤hey have fantastic engineers and a lot of experience, but I’m a rookie and don’t want to overpromise an𝄹ything.

“I꧟ hope for the best, but I’m also prepared for difficult times.”


Adapting quickly key to ‘mental challenge’ of Formula E

Sims’ last single seater race outing came at the 2016 Macau Grand Prix before he 🌳switched to GT racing in recent years, and the Briton says his vast experience has proved beneficial i♕n his bid to get up to speed with FE machinery.

“Having t🎉he experien𝓰ce of driving lots of different race cars for sure broadens the range of skills you can draw from,” he explained.

“That helꦕps a lot when adaptin🐓g to Formula E which requires a different approach in many aspects compared to conventional cars and circuits.

“I have learned to understand the strengths and weaknesses of many different cars and ho♍w to get the best possible lap time out of it on different kinds of circღuits.

“Adapting quickly will be a big thing in Formula E wit🌺hꦆ all its different and mostly bumpy street circuits.

“I’ve already talked a lot to António Félix da Costa about it. He can help me🐽 a lot wౠith his experience.”

When asked what his biggest c♑hallenge has been so far, Sims replied: “It is difficult to name one big challenge as there were many things that required me to adapt my approach.

“One thing that really surprised me was ꦚthe amount of freedom I had in improving the software to fit perfectly to my driving s🦂tyle.

“For most of my career in single seater and GT racing there was a limited number of things that you coul♓d realistically change for the driver.

“Another big topic for m♏e is understanding all the systems you have𝓀 in the Formula E car to manage the energy,” he added.

“Racing ot🍌her guys wheel-to-wheel and at the same time thinking of your energy management and race strategy requires a lot of multitasking.

“All in all, F💯ormula E will be a fantastic men🍌tal challenge and a lot of fun.”