When Robert Wickens hit the wall in the Pocono IndyCar race back in 2018 the Canadian racer suffered a bruised spine that took away his ability to walk, let alone race. By 2022 he was back racing full time with Bryan Herta Autosport in IMSA’s TCR class using specially adapted hand controls, and in 2023 he won the season championship. It took him a lot longer than he’d hoped to get back into an open wheeler, but after 2,141 days out of the cockpit, he spent this weekend testing a hand-controlled Formula E chassis during the Portland E-Prix weekend. I don’t think there’s a bigger badass in racing right now than Wickens. Dudes rock.
35-year-old Wickens still has an opportunity to get back into open wheel racing, and after the test he knows what needs to happen in order to make that a reality. Right now the steering ratio of the Formula E car is wide enough that he can’t apply rapid throttle at full steering lock, and he can’t grip the wheel as well as he needs to thanks to his fingers doing the throttle and brakes.
Said Wickens of his first Formula E experience, “It was only a few laps, but I thoroughly enjoyed the experience, and it left me wanting a lot more. Hopefully this will lead to more opportunities in the future and possibly a rookie test. I think right now, that would be the goal for me, to try and get onto the grid in Formula E for the future.”
The stick-to-itiveness and determination of Wickens to get back to racing open wheelers, in the face of this massive challenge, is nothing less than legendary. The dude absolutely could have been a champion in top-level open wheelers, and would have been fighting the best in IndyCar (or even F1) to this day were it not for his crash. To see him back running in one of the FIA’s premier series cars is truly incredible.
It would be truly amazing to see the 2018 Indy 500 Rookie Of The Year back racing at the 500 again. He’s doing the work to make it happen, and I’m confident he deserves another shot.