Chris McCarthy will become the new voice of Formula 2 in 2025 as the series’ world feed commentator, as was announced today. Feeder Series sat down with the Briton to discuss the key moments along his 13-year commentating journey and what he wants to achieve in his new role.

By George Sanderson

To fans of feeder series racing, McCarthy is already a much-loved voice in the commentary booth, having commentated on FRegional Europe and F3 since 2021 and 2023 respectively. He also made his debut commentating over F1 with the Sky F1 Kids show in 2023 and is affiliated with Feeder Series via his role as Transfer Weekly host since 2022.

McCarthy announced today, during the second day of F1’s pre-season test, that he would step into the full-time F2 commentator role for the 2025 season. He replaces Alex Jacques, who announced in December, at the end of F2’s final qualifying session of 2024, that he was stepping down as F2’s English-language world feed commentator after 10 years in the role. 

McCarthy explained that he learned of his promotion “over a period of time” rather than in one moment.

“I was getting an idea that this could happen,” he said. “Alex made his announcement that he was stepping down [from the F2 commentator position] and then I was getting hints that it could be my turn.

“It was very shortly after that that I was told, ‘You’re next, essentially, to take over.’” The decision was then confirmed to McCarthy during a celebratory evening the F1 broadcast team were having.

“It was really great because Alex was there, Will Buxton was there, and that was a chance to thank them for their support because they’ve both been so supportive.”

Buxton, F1’s digital presenter since 2018, also announced a move of his own in January when he was confirmed to be returning to Fox Sports to lead their broadcast team for the IndyCar Series in 2025. It marks a full-circle moment for Buxton, who started his television career as a pit lane reporter for the network’s F1 coverage back in 2010. He commentated on the GP2 Series, the previous iteration of F2, from 2009 to 2014.

McCarthy told Feeder Series that Buxton had been a “big supporter of mine at F1TV” and that Jacques had played a significant role in his career development.

“I’ve learnt so much since commentating at F1TV,” McCarthy said. “I almost felt like I’ve started again in commentary. The amount I’ve learnt from [Jacques] has been unbelievable, so I respect him even more than what I did before. I had a huge amount of respect for him before, but that’s gone up now I’ve got to know him personally.”

“I watched Will Buxton. He was kind of the first inspiration to me as a commentator and Alex Jacques then took over from him and became a huge inspiration.” 

Why F2 is ‘a completely different beast’

When asked if the news felt real, McCarthy chuckled. “Absolutely not!” he said. While he feels well prepared for the role, he said it would only sink in “when the lights go out for the first race in Australia”.

McCarthy had already covered the Sakhir, Imola, Spielberg and Silverstone rounds of the 2024 F2 season in place of Jacques and had commentated on the 2023 Silverstone event as well.

“That’s been a huge help, and to that I can only thank Alex and F1,” he said. “They’ve given me a few races to get used to what F2 is like, because it’s a completely different beast to Formula 3 – particularly when you take on a feature race.”

McCarthy explains that whilst F2’s sprint race is “pretty similar” to the races he has called in F3 and other championships, the longer feature race poses a completely new challenge. Identifying and tracking strategies during the race is crucial to his work as a commentator, and the task isn’t easy.

“It moves very quickly because everyone does their pit stops within a very short window if they’re on that first strategy,” he said. Drivers starting on the softer tyre must change to the harder compound no earlier than the end of the sixth lap.

“We get that list [of tyre strategies] through quite late, and then it’s just making sure we’ve got all the people in the right cars and then going for it.”

The shorter sprint race is also vital, but for different reasons.

“Drivers [have] a point to prove to the teams in F1, and that’s something we have to tell the audience about,” he said. “Not only that, but the sprint race comes on just after F1 qualifying, and so a lot of people watch that sprint race.”

“[The] sprint race is really important for bringing new people into the world of Formula 2. We’ve got a lot of eyes on it, and that’s something I’ve learnt to really teach new people about F2.”

How a seizure changed McCarthy’s life

From 2008 to 2012, McCarthy was chasing the dream of becoming an F1 driver by racing karts. He faced drivers such as Jake Hughes and Jack Aitken, who have both gone on to forge successful careers in Formula E and sports car racing. While on the British scene, he also encountered a young Lando Norris, George Russell and Alex Albon beginning their karting careers.

“Lando in particular was a little star,” he reminisced. “You could see it right from the age of eight years old. I remember watching his first round in a British championship race and thinking – not to call myself as some talent spotter – but I just saw this kid come from the back of the C final to the A final and [thought], ‘Oh, I really want to see how this Lando Norris kid does.’ Then he broke down on the warm-up lap and I was devastated for him.”

Norris recovered from the setback and became a dominant force in karting, winning the 2013 WSK Euro Series and FIA Karting European Championship followed by the 2014 FIA Karting World Championship.

McCarthy, however, never got the chance to fulfil his karting dreams.

“In 2012, I had a seizure at the racetrack and that brought an end to my racing career. You lose your race licence for five years at a minimum.”

McCarthy’s future was uncertain after the epileptic seizure. Ultimately, however, it led him down the career path he has followed to the present day.

Keen to stay engaged in racing, he enrolled in a television and film production degree and soon took cameras out to film karting races at Whilton Mill in Northamptonshire for his coursework.

“I’d only gone back to the track, Whilton Mill, where I was racing at when I’d had the seizure, to thank the medical team and my team,” he said. “When I left the track, it kind of hit me, ‘Oh, wow, that could be the last time that I ever leave a racetrack,’ and I just really didn’t want that to be the case.”

McCarthy was initially hired by Whilton Mill to film their races for all of 2013, but his father pointed out to him that those races needed commentary and encouraged McCarthy to provide it.

“The first round, I think, was July 2014 and the PA system wasn’t working but I was just commentating anyway!” Chris rapidly developed a love for being behind the microphone and even commentated for Kartmasters in 2014, during which he called the races of a young Ollie Bearman.

Fast forward 10 years, and McCarthy was behind the microphone with F1 Kids for Bearman’s first-ever F1 race when he stood in for Carlos Sainz at the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix. But long before their respective ascents, McCarthy yearned to commentate on the series that burnished Bearman’s reputation.

“My dream initially was always to get to F2 and F3. From that moment in 2014, I loved the support series,” he said.

“When Alex Jacques took that role [as GP2 and GP3 commentator in 2015], I was a bit disappointed, actually. I told him this because I really wanted to get that gig! But I was a bit naïve at the time. I had about six months’ experience!”

Hoping to hone his craft and progress through the racing ranks a second time, McCarthy commentated on British and European karting events, all the way up to the FIA Karting European Championships in 2018. It was in 2019, after moving to cars and commentating on the penultimate FRenault Eurocup round of the season, that McCarthy “really set [his] sights on single-seaters”.

In 2020, he joined talent management company LoudSpeaker Agency, who secured him a commentary role in Euroformula Open the same year. A year later he joined FR Europe after its merger with FRenault Eurocup, and a year after that he was brought in by F1 to call Porsche Supercup races.

“It’s been a 13-year journey to get to this point,” McCarthy explained. “I’ve always really enjoyed the task of learning a new championship, maybe one I didn’t know so much about, and that’s made me better at actually getting to learn new championships, learn new drivers. I think I’ve developed a bit of a system for myself in preparation.”

What McCarthy makes of F2’s 2025 season

The 2024 F2 season saw a title battle that went to the final race; 18 different race winners; and, for the first time in the championship’s history, at least one victory for every team on the grid.

Heading into the final round, Invicta Racing’s Gabriel Bortoleto led Campos Racing’s Isack Hajdar by just half a point, a lead Bortoleto extended to 4.5 points after the sprint race. The pair lined up second and third on the grid respectively for the final feature race, but Hadjar stalled on the grid. His rival went on to finish second, winning the title by 22.5 points, whilst Hadjar was a lap down in 19th.

Until the end, McCarthy said, “You really didn’t know who was going to take the title.” 

McCarthy expects more unpredictability in 2025 in the vein of the last F3 season. Trident’s Leonardo Fornaroli claimed the title via a last-lap overtake despite not winning a single race, with Gabriele Minì and Luke Browning in second and third separated by just two points.

“A lot of the key drivers, looking at the grid, have moved up,” he said. 

“Luke Browning has had time in the [F2] car. We would expect that he should put in a very good season, and there’s quite a lot on the line for him there. I think he could be in a very similar situation to what we saw [with] Zak O’Sullivan.” Former Williams Racing Driver Academy member O’Sullivan left ART Grand Prix’s F2 team mid-season because of reported budget issues and was replaced by Browning, at the time his academy stablemate.

McCarthy said of Minì, meanwhile, that “most of us put him as our favourite for the title” in F3 last year. The Italian then finished third on his F2 debut in place of Bearman in Azerbaijan, who was in turn standing in for Kevin Magnussen at Haas in F1 because of the Dane’s race ban.

McCarthy said the strength of the F3 graduates and remaining F2 drivers will ensure close competition this season.

“I don’t think there is a standout couple of clear favourites like we had, or we thought we were going to have, last season. We all thought Victor Martins and Ollie Bearman were just going to go head to head for the title last season. That didn’t happen because of the new car.

“The teams have now [had] a chance to get their head around the car, but I don’t look at that grid and go, ‘These two should run away with the title’.”

The 2025 F2 season kicks off on 14 March in Australia. Albert Park, which joined the F2 calendar in 2023, hosts the season opener for the first time in the championship’s history while also holding the opening round of the F1 season for the first time since 2019.

Editor’s note: McCarthy is affiliated with Feeder Series via his role on the broadcast team as host of Transfer Weekly. He was not involved in the drafting, editing or publication processes of this article after being interviewed.

Header photo courtesy of Chris McCarthy