How Alex Jacques became the voice of Formula 1

His voice is thought to tens of millions of viewers and players worldwide. However how did Components 1 commentator Alex Jacques combat his approach from the again of the grid to broadcasting’s entrance row?

He has voiced a few of the most dramatic moments in F1.

From the “chaos” of Max Verstappen’s last-lap title win in 2021 to Charles Leclerc’s first residence victory in Monaco in 2024, Alex Jacques has been the person behind the microphone.

The 36-year-old from Ipswich is lead commentator for F1TV and Channel 4, and options in Netflix’s hit fly-on-the-wall sequence Components 1: Drive To Survive.

He’s additionally the voice of EA Sports activities’ F1 video video games.

Jacques’ journey started removed from the glamour of Monte Carlo at non-league soccer membership Ipswich Wanderers, the place he first went on air for BBC Radio Suffolk.

So how did the broadcaster, as soon as so shy that he filed his stories hiding behind a stand, go from Humber Doucy Lane to Hockenheim?

As a motorsport-crazy teenager, he shortly realised he was not destined to be a high driver.

“I obtained overwhelmed by a seven-year-old at Anglia Karting in Ipswich once I was 10. I knew then I wasn’t going to be Michael Schumacher,” he laughs.

“From then, I all the time wished to be a commentator.”

Jacques’ profession mirrors the rise of drivers together with Leclerc, George Russell and Lando Norris: via the youth formulation, into F3 and F2 earlier than lastly reaching F1.

“I’ve identified a few of them since they have been very, very younger,” he says.

“I do know the moments when their careers almost fell over… sliding door moments, which meant we’d by no means have identified them.

“There isn’t a sure guess in motor racing. So understanding the trials and tribulations and seeing them on that journey makes it lots simpler to focus on their massive moments after they get to Components 1.

“If in case you have Lewis Hamilton’s comeback win, or Lando Norris successful his residence race at Silverstone, it is the drivers making the historical past. I am simply there to make loud noises and do it justice”.

On a go to again to the bottom the place he started as a contract soccer reporter, he recollects: “I used to be so nervous the primary time I did a match report for Radio Suffolk, I needed to truly sneak out of the press field and go behind the stand and mumble it into my cellphone as a result of I used to be so scared about being on the radio.

“In non-league soccer, if a supervisor would not prefer it, they’ll flip spherical, look you within the eye and inform you with a number of fruity phrases!

“It’s a bizarre factor to begin on Humber Doucy Lane and find yourself on the Monaco Grand Prix. However I like Components 1, and thought I may get there.”

He was loaned some package by BBC Radio Suffolk’s Graeme McLoughlin, enabling him to broadcast for varied stations and construct a showreel.

McLoughlin additionally secured him a go for Silverstone to interview Suffolk-based McLaren F1 reserve driver, Gary Paffett.

McLoughlin remembers: “I knew he was into motorsport on the time however once I heard this interview I used to be like ‘Wow… he is good!’

“Whenever you take heed to Alex, there’s loads of pure expertise however clearly a lot prep goes in. His profession has been good to look at.”

Assembly McLoughlin once more for the primary time in a decade, Jacques says: “I owe this man an terrible lot.

“Genuinely, if it wasn’t for Graeme lending me gear and giving me a begin on the radio, none of what I have been capable of do would have been doable.”

The F1 season runs for 9 months, from the glitz and glamour of Monaco to the sweltering warmth of Singapore.

Melbourne, the place the season opens, is greater than 10,000 miles (16,000km) from Jacques’ Suffolk residence, and there are “triple headers” – races on three successive weekends – dotted all through the season.

“We do a 24-Grands-Prix yr, and I spend half the yr on the street. I’ve a really supportive spouse who understands,” says Jacques.

“Generally, I will not ship the image of the superb view or the superb dinner I am having as a result of it is raining sideways again within the UK.”

Jacques just lately turned a first-time father to a child woman and says time away from his spouse and little one is the toughest a part of his job.

“One minute, you are in Texas, and the subsequent factor, you are going via the door, being handed your daughter and being requested to vary the nappy,” he says.

“You’re straight again right down to earth, and I would not have it every other approach.

“That is, and all the time will likely be, residence. I like travelling the world however nothing beats coming again to my household.”

Jacques has been nominated for Sports activities Commentator of the 12 months on the Broadcast Sport Awards, having beforehand gained in 2022.

This yr, his competitors contains Sky Sports activities’ soccer lead commentator, Peter Drury, and ITV Sport’s Sam Matterface.

He has additionally printed a ebook celebrating 75 years of F1, and says the British Grand Prix at Silverstone in Northamptonshire is just not solely the spotlight, however “the place all of it started again in 1950”.

His recommendation to aspiring broadcasters? “Above all else, do not depend your self out,” he says.

“There isn’t a-one who needs to be or should not be within the Formula1 paddock. And if you happen to work laborious and you’re variety to individuals, there’s each alternative you may get there as nicely. Even somebody from little outdated Ipswich!”