This Harry Potter star trades wand for wheel to tout a Miami electric car race
Two things you wouldn’t normally associate with climate activism: Car racing and Draco Malfoy, the smug bullyboy wizard of the Harry Potter book and movie franchise.
But here they were magically together in Miami this week to promote an upcoming race featuring cars almost as slick as the Nimbus 2001 broomstick Malfoy rode in quidditch competitions.
Tom Felton, the actor who played Draco throughout the series, was among the celebrity drivers at a demonstration in Miami Gardens in advance of an April race at Homestead-Miami Speedway featuring Formula E vehicles. That E stands for electric. And this event featuring Felton and other celebrities and influencers was designed to show fans that race cars don’t have to be roaring, gas-guzzling, pollution-spewing machines.
You can also go zero to 60 in under two seconds in a vehicle that emits zero emissions and that is stunningly quiet – except for the whoooosh sound of it splitting the air.
One of the leading missions of the Formula E racing series, its organizers say, is to pave the way for electric cars on the road and test and develop the latest, most competitive technology. The Formula E Championship was the first sport with a “net zero” carbon footprint — meaning the series reduced its climate impact (beyond no fossil fuels coming out of tailpipes) by recycling some of their parts and donating money to sustainable projects in the cities they visit.
“We’re trying to make it a better future, we’re trying to develop that technology that hopefully one day will be on the normal road cars and hopefully this will help everyone adopt electric cars,” said professional race car driver Sébastien Buemi, who competed in Formula One from 2009 to 2011, and won the 2015 Formula E championship.
For the event at the track around Hard Rock Stadium, dubbed the ‘Evo Sessions,’ Buemi switched roles from driver to coach to prepare a clearly cautious Felton to take some spins around the track in a daunting new role as racing whizz-ard.
“I’m going to take it nice and easy,” Felton said, wiping sweat away from his face before getting in the car. “The team has looked after me, and prepared me to the best of their ability so the rest is up to me.”
He sported Slytherin-green in a Envision Racing group car that had “race against climate change” written on the body wrap. Some of the other guest drivers were also high-profile in their own way: former Argentine soccer player Sergio Agüero; Brooklyn Beckham, designer and son of David Beckham; and content creator Cleo Abram.
Buemi, who drove in Formula 1 before signing on with Envision, said in electric motorsports there is an incentive to be efficient and light – helpful to making cars more sustainable. And Formula E claims there have already been big improvements since the first season in 2014.
Roger Griffiths, the principal of the Andretti Global team, said he remembered in the first championship drivers had to switch cars during a 45-minute race because of limited car battery life.
“Now we can do a 45-minute race at a much higher power level, at a much faster pace with just one car,” Griffiths said. “We’re about 3-seconds a lap faster than last year’s car.”
The car everybody drove at the Wednesday for-the-media-only event is called the GEN3 Evo. Unveiled in April 2024, it’s said to be 36% faster than its predecessor. There’s a sleeker body, new tires with more grip – and a switch in how players can utilize “attack mode.”
Buemi explained some of the things that make EV racing different than, say, NASCAR, where famous and fictional champion Ricky Bobby might put it pedal to the metal from the wave of the green flag. If you try to go full out the entire time in a EV racer, you’ll run out of juice before your final lap, he said.
But a new “attack mode” provides eight minutes of full-on power – for those familiar with the video game Mario Kart, it’s something like the speed boost you get collecting coins. Buemi said attack mode pumps juice to all four wheels with “an absolutely massive performance boost.” It comes on so strong that drivers have to pull off the course to push the button, he said.
But letting celebrities get behind the wheel didn’t come without risks. None of the celebs went into attack mode, but even without that boost, YouTuber Mr. Beast, who made a surprise appearance, spun out and hit a wall. Damage to the car seemed limited.
“It felt like I did like four spins, I was like, any second I’m going to ruin Jeremy’s car,” James Stephen “Jimmy” Donaldson, who goes by Mr.Beast online, said on Formula E’s Instagram.
Formula E will be back in Miami on April 12 at the Homestead-Miami Speedway in the fifth stop of the 17-race 2025 season.
Ashley Miznazi is a climate change reporter for the Miami Herald funded by the Lynn and Louis Wolfson II Family Foundation in partnership with Journalism Funding Partners.
