THE BUSINESS CHIEF INTERVIEW
towards centralised remote broadcast operations in the UK, reducing the number of people and the volume of equipment that needs to travel. The result is fewer flights, lower costs and a smaller carbon footprint per race.“ We have improved engagement and we improved retention of staff,” Jeff says.“ So this concept of‘ yes, but it’ s a compromise’ – for me that is the biggest misconception.” Artificial intelligence is accelerating that process.“ Whether you think AI is a force for good or a force for evil, in our world, trying to make us more efficient and more sustainable, it has to be a force for good,” Jeff says.“ We’ re using that technology to help us reroute differently, to make different choices around how we broadcast.” The wider workforce of around 200 people at the organisation’ s central office is also benefiting. Jeff frames this not as automation replacing jobs, but as augmentation.“ There is a lot of talk about replacing humans with AI,” he says.“ I think about supercharging the humans that we have, allowing them to be even more effective in their day-to-day work.”
The electrification tailwind Formula E’ s sustainability credentials are inseparable from its core product: electric racing cars. The series was founded on the premise that motorsport could be a laboratory for electric vehicle( EV) technology and a platform for normalising electric mobility.
For Jeff, the timing has never been better.“ The internal combustion engine is 130 years old,” he says.“ The battery electric vehicle system is probably only 15 years old in terms of since the first Tesla Roadster was on the road. And in those 15 years, it’ s already gone to a point where in the EU in December, there were more electric vehicles sold than petrol vehicles.” China, where Formula E already has more than 100 million fans, sold nearly as manynew energy vehicles in 2025 as the total number of cars sold across all of North America.“ While it’ s a big, audacious goal to say we want to be the biggest motorsport in the world, we believe it’ s achievable,” Jeff says.“ Maybe not in two years or five years – maybe it takes 10 or 15 years – but we think it’ s achievable.” Formula E’ s fan base is younger than that of traditional motorsport and is roughly equal in its split between men and women. These are people who have grown up with EVs, who are engaged with technology and innovation and for whom sustainability is not a fringe concern.“ If my job were to come in and try and convince a die-hard Formula One fan that this is better, that would be the least satisfying job in the world,” Jeff says.“ If my job is to go to my kids, who are 17 and 14 and will probably only ever drive an electric vehicle, and say to them,‘ Watch this – these cars are driving with the technology that’ s going to be in your car’, that’ s what we focus on.”
62 June 2026