With experience of driving Formula 1, Formula E, IndyCar and World Endurance Championship machinery, there are not many drivers that can match Jordan King’s level of experience across a plethora of different motorsport disciplines.
Although the 30-year-old Briton may not have raced much in recent years, his knowledge has meant he’s a man in demand as he dovetails reserve driver duties for Mahindra in Formula E and as Alpine’s simulator and development driver in F1.
A promising young career had yielded the 2013 British F3 Championship – against the likes of future F1 drivers Antonio Giovinazzi and Nicholas Latifi – which was followed by two wins in GP2 with Racing Engineering in 2016, before King embarked on two more years in the F1 feeder series under its new moniker, F2.
Alongside MP Motorsport for the 2017 and 2019 F2 campaigns, with the latter providing a brace of podiums, King also raced part-time in IndyCar for Ed Carpenter Racing in 2018 before making his sole Indianapolis 500 outing with Rahal Letterman Racing the following season as he finished 24th.
Prior to that King did reach the pinnacle of motorsport, becoming Manor’s test driver in 2016 where he was given the chance to sample the team’s MRT05 in official outings at the Circuit of the Americas and Yas Marina circuits.
But it’s another F1 machine that “was a different formula” and that King was able to drive only last year that he picks out as his favourite car; the Alpine A521. Having performed simulator and development duties for the British-based F1 team over the last four years, King was given the chance to get behind the wheel for real at the challenging and technical Hungaroring.
King made his Formula E debut for Mahindra earlier this month, but it’s his most recent F1 outing that stands out most
Photo by: Simon Galloway / Motorsport Images
Not only was he given the chance to test arguably the fastest generation of grand prix car ever produced – 2022 being the first year of the ground-effect machines – but it also happened to be the same combination with which the team last celebrated a win in F1. Esteban Ocon’s maiden, and so far only, grand prix victory came in unlikely fashion at the wheel of the A521 at the Hungaroring in 2021.
PLUS: How a carryover Alpine blighted by politics gave Ocon an improbable F1 win
King embarked on a full day of testing in Hungary, which included completing more than 400km of running and meant…
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