CHARLES LECLERC and Lewis Hamilton won arguably the two most iconic Formula One races of the 2024 season.
made history as he won his home race at the Monaco Grand Prix with “tears”; in his eyes, while defied the odds to take the chequered flag at the British Grand Prix in his final home race with .
Both races have already gone down in the annals of F1 history for their huge significance in the modern era of the sport.
But for many fans, that experience was elevated to even greater heights by the man behind the microphone, Alex Jacques.
Jacques is the lead commentator of F1TV and , and the voice of the EA Sports F1 25 video game, while he has also featured in the series Drive To Survive.
For many fans, his voice has become synonymous with formula racing, given he also spent a decade as the commentator of F2 before leaving the role to spend more time with family at the start of this year.
Following his work at both Monaco and Silverstone last year, fans showed their love by featuring him in numerous social media clips, often edited with emotive background music, of the races.
And Jacques has not been blind to the outpouring of love fans have given him for his work.
Speaking exclusively to SunSport at a launch event of the EA Sports F1 25 video game, Jacques explained his thought process in the moment and gave his thoughts on the fan reaction to it.
He said: “You’re trying to tell their stories and both of those examples that you used, so for Charles Leclerc, my overarching, and it links back to the previous question, so it’s amazing to see all of those edits.
“As a commentator, you want to do justice to the moment. If you’re watching the Monaco GP and you’re watching Charles Leclerc, you might be an F1 fan and you might not know that backstory.
“That’s my job as the commentator, to tell you that this guy from Monaco, oh, it’s just a rich kid winning the Monaco GP. Nothing of the sort. This guy’s been through heartbreak on multiple occasions and it’s his life’s purpose to win that race.
“On that last lap, I tried to distil quite a complex story into quite a short amount of time. He’s such a well-supported driver that that lap has, as you say, been subject to so many edits on social media.”;
He continued: “With Lewis Hamilton, this is a driver that we got used to winning week in, week out. Suddenly, goes through a winning drought.
“That was one of the best Grand Prix of all time in the entire history of the 75 years. To see him come out on top when it could have been five drivers.
“So rarely do you get a Grand Prix where five drivers could win it. For him to come out on top, top three was three British drivers at the British GP. He ends his winless drought.
“If you can’t do justice to those moments, that’s when you have to step forward as a commentator and hopefully provide the words that match the pictures. Both of those occasions were just magic Formula One moments.”;
Jacques’ infectious love for motorsport means it was “tough”; for him to step away from working on F2.
However, “he has no complaints”; about stepping back to spend more time with his family after becoming a father for the first time just before this season’s Imola Grand Prix, although he jokes it has led to his favourite drink being a “strong black coffee, given how sleep deprived I am”;.
He said: “It’s been a strange one because I got the job in F2 first and then got opportunities in F1. F2 has always felt a little bit like the home team, if you like.
“F1 is the big international call-up, if you want to put it in a metaphor. It was tough saying goodbye because very rarely you have to leave that paddock behind.
“The nice thing about whether you’re telling the story of or or Charles Leclerc, these are all drivers that I’ve known from when they were very young because of commentating on F3 and F2 and watching their journey all the way through. But eventually it’s time.
“Eventually, you just cannot commentate on everything as much as I would love to. It was sad to say goodbye, but I have the best job in the world, so I have no complaints.
“I think to get 10 years commentating on any championship in any sport is a privilege and I thoroughly enjoyed it...
“Eventually, my wife was like, it would be nice if we could hang out at some point rather than you travel the world all the time.
“I got that F2 job when I was 25, so eventually you have to make more time for the people that support you when you’re away for ages and have to do the day-to-day moments.
“So, yeah, very, very fortunate to be the dad of a lovely baby girl and I have a very supportive wife and it’s nice to have a bit more of a balance even though there’s still a fair bit of travel involved.”;
Despite his new responsibilities away from the track, Jacques does still make time to keep an eye on F1’s feeder series and earmarked Irish racer Alex Dunne as one star to keep an eye on, even before he scored a maiden pole position at Monaco last weekend.
Jacques said: “I’ve been impressed with Alex Dunne, Irish driver, making that step up. There are some drivers that I think you take them from a F3 car, you put them with a little bit more power, a little bit more grip, and they seem to come alive.
“He seems to fall in that category. So, he’s an exciting prospect. but there are loads of really, really talented drivers. You’ve got to be consistent.
“But ultimately, I think all the drivers that eventually make it to F1, there are defining days in F3, in F2, where you watch what they do.
“Thinking about Kimi Antonelli, the new Mercedes driver, at Silverstone last year, one second a lap faster than everyone else in the field. And that includes three F1 drivers who also graduated with him.
“That is the type of performance that if you put in in F2, you can make a name for yourself. And everyone’s watching, everyone’s watching in the F1 paddock.
“So, great start for Alex Dunne, lots of talented names in that championship this year, but you need to see a standout performance, whether it be an overtaking performance through the field. Get yourself on the radar. A standout head-bind drive is the best way to do it.”;
However, Jacques’ position on the “ludicrous”; three-way 2025 F1 title race is far less clear as the 36-year-old can’t pick between duo Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris or reigning world champion , but is certain it is “the best type of season”; with the field being so close.
He added: “I really loved it because you’ve got three drivers at totally different stages of their careers. You’ve also got Lando Norris, [who] came in as the pre-season favourite.
“Can he deal with the expectation on his shoulders? And , exceeding expectations for where he is. You’ve got the McLaren drivers trying to win their first championships.
“You’ve got Max trying to make history and emulate the great . And he’d only be two behind the all-time record if he gets five with a lot of his career still to go. It’s a wonderful dynamic. The qualifying sessions have been so tight.
“We’ve not had a gap between first and second. that’s been over a tenth. That is ludicrous. We used to have gaps between first and second of a second back in the early 90s. F1 is ultra-competitive, we’re having a great season.”;
EA SPORTS has launched their new F1 25 game, with the iconic Edition out now and the Standard Edition launching May 30th. Available on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series, and PC.
