Porsche:"Inside E" podcast: Formula E reporters Nicki Shields and Jack Nicholls

“We’re all working towards making Formula E even better” 

Stuttgart. They have experienced the Formula E success story up close and personal  from day one. They were on board when the electric race series started its first season  in 2014; #nickishields as pit lane reporter, Jack Nicholls as commentator. In the latest  “Inside E” #podcast, they talk about their work on the official global TV broadcasting of  the ABB FIA Formula E World Championship, about the fantastic togetherness of the  teams and drivers at the racetrack, and their experience of #Porsche entering the series  a year ago. 

“It just worked out. I was in the right place at the right time,” said Jack Nicholls on how  he became the voice of Formula E. His path into motorsport was mapped out. He was  still a tot when his father took him to Formula 1 at Silverstone. Later, he worked as a  track marshal at smaller races in Great Britain. Then at some point he started to  commentate on these races. Everyone in Nicki Shields’ family were passionate racing  fans, starting with her grandfather, so it didn’t take her long to make up her mind when  the Formula E offer fluttered through her letterbox: “There’s nothing better than  combining your passion with work,” said the Brit. “You should do it whenever possible.” 

Her days at the racetrack are long and intense. Nicki usually gets up at quarter to five  in the morning, and yet she rarely makes it to the bus on time. “Jack is always on time,  I’m always too late,” she laughed. Her workspace is the pit lane. While Jack is sitting  in the commentator’s box, she is in the garages looking for stories to interest her  viewers. Between sessions she gets drivers and team principals on the mike and sometimes celebs who swing by Formula E. When she has wrapped up the final  interviews after the race, Shields, in her own words, is ‘pretty shattered’. Jack might  not be on the go as much as she is, but the sessions in the speaker’s booth are, he  assures us, not always that comfortable: “All I want to say is Diriyah, Saudi Arabia, 30  degrees Celsius, 90 percent humidity – and then the air con went on strike.” 

When #nickishields travelled to Beijing for the first race in 2014 nobody would have  guessed that Formula E would be such a resounding success. “We arrived and weren’t  even sure if the race would be taking take place,” she remembered. “Back then, if  someone had said we would be where we are now – we wouldn’t have believed it.” 

What still impresses Jack Nicholls the most is the sense of community and  camaraderie that prevail in Formula E. “No matter what happens on the track, we eat  together and drivers from different teams talk to each other and laugh together,” he  said. “We’re all working towards the same goal. Everyone is there to win, but also to  make Formula E even better.” 

Porsche’s first season made a great impression on Nicholls. “The team’s learning  curve was incredible,” he said. #Porsche entering with its grand history in motorsport  really enriched Formula E.” He is even more enthusiastic about André Lotterer’s pole  position in Mexico City than his second place in the very first race in Diriyah. “You can  end up on the podium by chance,” he said. “That doesn’t happen with pole.” 

The #Porsche Formula E #podcast is produced in English and is now available in the  #Porsche Newsroom. “Inside E” is also available on other platforms such as Apple  Podcasts, Spotify and Google Podcasts.