News broke Friday afternoon in Abu Dhabi that Formula 2 world feed commentator Alex Jacques would end his 10-year run of commentating on the series after the 2024 season finale this weekend. The drivers in F2 whose races he’s helped narrate reflect on the role he and other commentators have played in their careers.

By Michael McClure

Jacques announced at the end of today’s qualifying broadcast that this weekend would be his final one as F2’s English-language world feed commentator. He followed the announcement with a post on his social media accounts announcing the news a few minutes later.

A replacement has not yet been named.

In his decade-long career thus far, Jacques went from being a relative unknown to one of the most widely respected commentators in the motorsport world. He started as the world feed commentator for the GP2 and GP3 Series before the two series morphed into F2 and F3 respectively.

He has been joined by a rotating cast of colour commentators in the role, including 2014 GP2 champion Jolyon Palmer; 2012 GP2 champion Davide Valsecchi; and most recently former GP3 racer and sports car driver Alex Brundle, son of longtime F1 commentator Martin Brundle.

Jacques began commentating on F1 in 2018 and became the full-time F1 commentator on Channel 4 from the 2021 season onwards. He also became the Liberty Media–owned subscription streaming service’s lead commentator from the 2023 season. Jacques, Palmer and the younger Brundle are now all part of F1TV’s roster.

In 2021 and 2022, Jacques also commentated on W Series, a defunct woman-only FRegional-spec championship running on the F1 support package. He had relinquished his role as F3 commentator after the 2021 season.

Jacques was already absent from the F2 rounds in Sakhir, Imola, Spielberg and Silverstone this year. F3 commentator Chris McCarthy, who is affiliated with Feeder Series as host of the Transfer Weekly video podcast, replaced him at each of those four events.

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In the post-qualifying press conference hosted an hour after Jacques broke the news, Feeder Series asked the top three drivers in the session about the importance of commentators such as Jacques on their junior careers.

Polesitter Victor Martins said Jacques’ tenure in the position “means that he did a mega job”, while second-placed Gabriel Bortoleto said he was “definitely one of the good guys”.

“At the end of the day, what you do on track gives a lot of emotions to the people that are watching at home or in the grandstands or whatever, but the commentator is someone, I think, very important to the streaming,” said Bortoleto, who graduates to F1 with Sauber next year.

“I think he gives a lot of emotion, and they get very emotional as well while they are getting out the comments and saying what they think about the races and everything.

“I will miss, probably, his voice in the F2 races, but I’m sure he’s going to get a very good place to go in the future, and there will be someone very good as well to replace him next year.”

Paul Aron, who finished the session third, said he had also watched back the races he contested with Jacques’ commentary.

“I watched all the races this year, last year [while] in F3,” Aron told Feeder Series. “I’ve followed these championships for many, many years, and I think all of us have.

“When you are going up the ranks in karting, you follow these championships. When you start your single-seater career, you follow these championships, and now we are in it.

“It’s been a pleasure to work with him. I’ve always enjoyed the commentators we have in F2. They have an important role because in the end, they are the only ones connecting the drivers to the viewers,” he continued. “All of us are in the car and it’s their job to connect us to the viewers, let them know what is going on. And I think a good commentator can make a big difference in how enjoyable a championship is to watch.”

Aron said that it would be “a bit strange to watch the future races” without Jacques’ voice but added that “he’s represented us well”.

Jacques’ final weekend will feature the closest title decider in the history of the championship, with half a point splitting leader Bortoleto from chief rival Isack Hadjar, who qualified fourth. Paul Aron is 25.5 points behind, with 37 total still on offer from Saturday’s sprint race and Sunday’s feature race.

Header photo credit: Alex Jacques via Twitter