F1 Explains: Commentating on a Grand Prix - with Alex Jacques

0:05Hello everyone, welcome to F1 Explains. I'm Christian Hewgill and if you're new to us, this is the official Formula One podcast that answers your questions on the best sport in the world. You can email us about anything, f1explains at f1.com and we will find the best people in the paddock to answer them. Or not in the paddock, in the case of this week's episode. Instead, it was recorded about a 10-minute walk from the paddock in Australia. We went out of the gates, across a fan zone, past a metal gate guarded by a stern-looking Australian man, up some incredibly unglamorous-looking stairs and in to the commentary box.

0:44The pre-season favourite begins with a win. George Russell wins the Australian Grand Prix. It's a Mercedes 1-2 in a season opener for the first time since 2019. We don't just answer questions about on-track stuff on this podcast. We also talk a lot about the wider world of Formula One, including how the people who describe the action to us do their job. You've sent us a lot of questions on this one over the years we've been doing this podcast. Alex Jakes is F1 TV's main commentator. He's also heard on Channel 4 in the UK and Apple TV in the United States, as well as all over the world on F1's social media channels.

1:24and this is what happened when back in Australia he invited us into his home away from home of a race weekend. Alex Jakes thank you for welcoming us in to your commentary box home it's lovely to be here. Well thank you so much for having me back on the pod once again and yeah welcome to the living room. I've got a few thoughts there's no house plants, potted plants, picture frames you could have made it a bit more homely for the weekend is all I would say. This is this is luxury we're currently sitting in a double box at albert park let me tell you some of the commentary boxes around the formula one world championship are way more proximate let's say proximate is a good word than this one where there are some i'm thinking my monaco i'm thinking miami where you are you are it's honestly like being on a very very crammed uh budget airline yeah sure so and you're not allowed to move so obviously you're you're you're locked in so uh this is i can tell you uh luxury excellent this has got strong airs if you don't know you're born territory to it doesn't it and i want to start hey if you're going to come to a commentary box and ask me about commentary number one it's going to be a two-hour podcast this is the place to do it alex jakes you picked the right time and in fact the place now i want to start with becky from southampton hello to you Becky.

2:42Becky emailed f1explains at f1.com. And Becky said, my question is around F1 broadcasting. I've always been fascinated as F1 commentary is nothing like football or cricket or many other sports because the commentators can't possibly see everything all the time. So how is it done? What visual and audio feeds do you get inside the commentary box? What data do you have access to? And how do you coordinate and adapt to whatever the audience can see and hear? I think this is the perfect place to start so thank you becky alex jakes paint a picture if you will talk us through your commentary box setup what can you see in front of you well the first thing to say is that i've got my central monitor here which is what everyone sees at home the feed for formula one doesn't matter what country you watch on doesn't matter what channel you watch on when we have the titles and you see the rundown five minutes before the race begins everyone is watching the same pictures and therefore we have exactly what you see at home in the middle of the box because there was one two three four five six seven eight there's nine tv monitors in this commentary box and that one that alex has just described is a big one in the middle and we'll refer to that so the one in the middle of the nine so let's take you from left to right in the commentary box um we've got a backup one in case the main monitor breaks okay so that is that is just in worst case scenario that's that's the old um reserve car from back in the day of formula one Exactly.

4:06Then we have a timing page three, which is a direct race control. So if there is a penalty, if there is a delayed start, if there is anything from race control from the FIA, we get it on that timing page. It comes up in bright purple. So sometimes it's a crazy race. You might miss it. And then you're like, it came up in bright purple. That really is. That really is directly on me. You also get the basic information about the temperature and the weather conditions and the wind direction on that page. The page below is an old school timing page, which will just tell you the order and the sectors.

4:40It's been in use since the early 90s, and it hasn't changed, because the easiest way to upset this row of commentators that we're sitting on is by changing something that we've always had. And we should say that system has been in place since the 90s, not this particular monitor. That looks slightly newer. Not much newer, I would say, but slightly newer. Third time page. The next one is to say we have a driver tracker, where each driver comes up as a dot. So this is your GPS of where the driver is on the circuit. This is to get around to the aforementioned problem of not being able to look out the window and see the entire plot, like a cricket pitch, like a football pitch, like a rugby pitch, like an NFL pitch, where you can see everything if you look.

5:18I cannot stand up and have a look out of the window at the entire place. So the driver tracker is very useful for that. Then you get into different timing pages. So Jolien and David have a different timing page here on the right that gives you slightly different detail. I prefer one which lays it out a different way. This is just us seeing exactly the same information, what tires they are on, what their previous best lap was, what their current lap time is, what the best sectors are at the bottom. This is just the same information relayed in different visualizations. And is that a common, for example, next door, you might have your esteemed colleague david croft yes from sky sports for example yeah doing the same job might they have it laid out a bit differently yeah and and it's just the way that your brain works and getting the information very very quickly yeah and and the the page i have in front of me is designed purely i have that one in front of me and then the old school one that one is for the opening lap because that is the one that my brain responds to so when you're rapid fire and you're and you're listening very quickly and you're looking for changes in the order i respond to that one the other two chaps in the box they respond to this one it's like it's like working out your own setup if you like this is the way i like it entirely entirely and so you uh you need the speed of that at the start of the race and then above their timing page on the other side i'm greedy i have i have four screens directly in front of me they have three screens in front of them one of which is a return monitor to the uk commentary box currently occupied by alex Brundle he's just going about his day he has no idea we're looking at him it's it's strange it is it's downright odd because we're recording this in Australia so there's where and here we are in the morning there's Alex Brundle in the dead of night yeah on his own doesn't know we're talking about him and watching him and that he's featuring in this podcast bless him but he is um and at the top is the tyre page how long you've been on the tyres excellent excellent what a fabulous description anybody you think you describe things for a job um we will get to grips with commentary throughout this episode but let's start more broadly how was your prep for the 2026 season compared to previous years because it's a new era there's been lots for us to get used to watching at home presumably the stuff for you to get used to in describing the sport as well yeah i would say that the difference from 2025 to 2026 is when you have so many new rules you've obviously got to learn how they work for teams and drivers and the practicality of how they're going to execute those rules but you cannot possibly describe it the same way that they would because we're going out to a very broad audience in different countries uh we go out from this commentary box to channel four in the uk the free-to-air network tv highlights we go out to apple tv in the states as of this year and we have a fantastic knowledgeable loyal subscriber base on f1 tv so you might have some experts and some newbies if you will also we're on the youtube highlights and social media as well so your explanation has got to work in a way where you bring along the seasoned petrol head and you bring along someone that might have just discovered it in the last month that is at the nub of it the challenge of commentary and this year oh my word it's a challenge because we're taking highly complex stuff and i'm trying to explain it in a way that my mum can understand in a way that a die-hard petrol head would understand and i'm trying to get to it as quickly as possible and then let my co-commentators i'm just trying to give you the headline and let the co-commentators do the context if required whittling that down from the massive set of regulations down to something that i can hopefully explain in one sentence that has been the biggest challenge going into this season's new rules and does your mum think you're doing a good job and she will tell me if i'm not no she's phenomenal and very very supportive our regards to mrs james uh we wish her well now uh alex from your point of view what's it been like commentating on these new cars in competitive sessions has it felt different at all no the first thing i did when i went to bahrain testing is went trackside i was like well if it's going to be different i want to know the reality yeah did not think in any way went to different corners of the circuit didn't think it was any different at all uh obviously sometimes when they're in the longer race runs and they're having to recharge you're seeing slightly different speeds compared to what you're used to i think you get used to it very quickly a lot of the time though the commentary gets divided up into what's happening and why it's happening so when there is so much to explain when there's a when there's a lot of explanation you've got to be careful to not turn it into a university lecture yeah of course um because it's sport and it's people's weekends and everyone wants to have a good time.

10:07So the complexity of it is there, but it's Formula One. It's a traditionally quite complex sport anyway. Something I actually don't think Formula One as a sport gets enough credit for is its TV graphics. Because now, Alex, you and I are both huge soccer fans, football fans. Yeah. But the graphics you need to put on for a football match are nowhere near as complex. In fact, sometimes it can be as simple as 1-0, 2-0. Usually in the case of my football team, it's telling me that they are in fact losing but it's all right you had a decade where you won everything yeah exactly we'll move on from that pack away your moans quite quickly move on from that i'm a leicester city fan for anyway we can obviously we can do wildly off topic anyway moving swiftly on um the tv graphics that we see on on screen yeah two questions firstly how helpful to you as a commentator are they because let's be honest you know sometimes viewers are seeing stuff from them and you will be too as the commentator but secondly we've got some new graphics this year as well how have they changed things how do they help you well you need them a lot this year because there are so many intangibles that like in the state of the battery you've got to know whether someone's roared around the outside with the use of the battery or whether they've and in the past we had drs so no guessing because it was tangible and it was yeah sure obviously we've gone to a dip we've got overtake mode this year and we've got different you know we've got boost we've got different states of the battery being full battery being empty and so the graphics this year tell us that story in a way that we could see last year we're and previous years with drs so you're relying on the graphics in a different way there are so many graphics that you get in formula one compared to other sports as a result and i do think when i watch other sports the the job that they do to break it down in a simple way and and to be honest it sounds really really daft but when you see other stopwatch sports you're so grateful for the left hand side timing tower because that is so useful to just be able to glance down to and refer to and we take that for granted i wouldn't want to do my job without it it's quite funny because like when i'm watching at home and i know it inevitably happens sometimes that the time there's a glitch the timing tower disappears for a moment the illogical reaction in my mind is ridiculous what's happened it's the end of the world where's the timings i don't know what's happening because i do fundamentally the car event's still winning but it's like oh my word what's happening it must be difficult in those situations not to panic when things do go wrong i panic when i'm sat watching let alone you describing it to the world well you go back to your radio days this happened in bahrain last year we lost the we lost the timing graphics for about 10 minutes and i was like my brain was just like right turn it into radio because everyone's got to know the the time you just mentioned the timings way more yes in that circumstance but yeah you do lean very heavily on the graphics you go back to your radio days right let's check the travel news now no i'm joking um right in fact i'll tell you what we will do actually rather than check the travel news is we'll go for a short break and then after that we will put some of your questions to alex jakes back in a moment

13:20welcome back to f1 explains where this week we are explaining formula one commentary and we always say on f1 explains we find the best person in the paddock to answer those questions so of course we thought go to a formula one commentator i'm joined by alex jakes and we are in a commentary box the best man for the job in the best place let's go to some of your questions f1 explains f1.com adam is in pittsburgh hello adam um you're gonna like adam from pittsburgh alex jakes go on tell you because his first question well it's a big question and it starts with how did alex become so good at commentating it's a great question we'll leave it there thanks so much question adam the chair of the alex jakes fan club um uh adam says how did alex become so good at commentating what kind of prep does he have to do before the races and is alex always at the track or sometimes does he do commentary remotely so three and one from adam in pittsburgh for you there starting with your brilliance alex jakes the fine people of pittsburgh i've always liked them um that's very kind of him to say i appreciate that a lot of work goes into it um it's a little bit like when i was describing with the timing pages you're taking a lot of information and you're trying to distill it from about 30 pieces of a4 into two so um to describe for you because it's the first race of the season i've got uh the driver's uh t-cam colors very very bright uh you've got verstappen has a black t-cam hajar has a yellow t-cam just for those brand news where if i want to explain what t-cam is it's the camera on top of the car and it's the most identifiable thing we have to use that more than the crash helmets in modern times because the halo obscures the view yes and you don't know what angle you're going to get so as a result that's up there as well i'll have notes on every single drivers uh every single driver and team team, essentially, it's about 10 facts.

15:07Some of them are about the journey that they've had across the weekend. Some of them are the basics, their previous results. But 10 things I can say, you never use all of that. You also have your grid, that will be in front of me. You also have the stats of their previous career. That's a page I do for myself as well. Again, just purely because I want to access the information exactly how I want it. So the time from me looking at the page to talking into the microphone is as short as possible um that it means that i essentially have about 10 pieces of paper in front of me and then a thick chunk off to the side where you're sitting christian where i can if it gets into real real detail and you get a shock win then you're looking through your your basically really detailed notes to to access that information and obviously i've got a laptop in front of me as well because you never know what you're going get in formula one you never know what was the third part of the question the third part of the question was is alex always at the track or does he sometimes do commentary remotely so this changed uh in 2020 when when covid hit there was a necessity for many broadcast teams to to do the commentary live remotely it could happen in the past but it was very very difficult for that to take place so most of the time before 2020 we'd always be on site every single event looking out of the window at the track now it is different we do about half from formula one's media and technology center in the uk and half on site the reason for the split um it's nice to see your friends and family yeah from time to time and occasionally they're like it'd be nice to see you from time to time uh also formula one's got sustainable goals and it takes a lot to rig the equipment that we've described and ship it around the world so we do some from the studio and some on site you have to come on site because you just never know what you're going to learn when you run into someone i was going to get a coffee this morning in our in our facility right you know very quickly ran into george russell okay there is something i'm going to say about that quick interaction in the broadcast it's shaped my thinking about the narrative if i'm back in the studio i don't have that i don't have that insight it doesn't make it onto the broadcast so you can never fully do it remotely without losing the journalistic steer of what's going on but yeah for half of them we're at track and half we're back at base and that journalistic steer as you say is balanced isn't it with an increase in technology that we've seen partly sort of spearheaded by covid you almost sound a jovial there but there is a there is a genuine point isn't there in the formula one world nowadays if there's been 24 races of people's well-being and making sure you're not spending too much time on planes you know in the original days that you and I grew up watching Formula One, Alex, there was 17 races a season.

17:52That's considerably less tricky for a commentator doing 17 races. So there is also that. And as well, as you say, the environmental measures, it does mean that fewer of us have to get on planes, which really helps. I also really enjoyed your point about the facts you have on the drivers, because when I was doing football reporting, my rule was three facts to say on each player. yeah i think i would probably use about four percent of that information by the end of the the broadcast but it's just there because you need something to say and yet we're recording this at the opening race of the year i was up at 6 a.m i get to the for opening race day of the year i get in super early because you i want my notes done once my notes are done you can relax you can enjoy until they're done doesn't matter if we use as you say you would use five percent ten percent of what was in front of you until it's done you're not ready to go on air and that's That's just the nature of the gig.

18:46Absolutely. Cameron from Canada says, I know the cars have numbers on them and a lot of the drivers have helmets that stand out. But with cars moving so fast, camera angles so varied and those numbers not being massive, how do you identify the drivers when commentating? You've given us one answer to this with the T-cam and the colours of the T-cam. Are there any other tips and hints? Well, you can still see, on the onboards, obviously you can still see the driver's helmet and that will give you a steer. but to give you an example of mclaren this weekend oscar piastri is running more yellow on his helmet it's his home race it looks very very similar to lando norris's crash helmet so if for goodness sake oscar so if there's a mclaren in the wall at some point of the race i'm looking to the camera at the top of the car because there's not enough difference between the crash helmets to identify them that way numbers wise you would you would just never use the number because of because you don't know what angle you're going to get it's not like other championships where they're enormous numbers on the side of the car and you know for example oval racing on the side of the car you're going to be able to use that a lot more so that's not a that's not a luxury that we have as useful as it would be certainly on the opening laps but yeah so you're usually usually you know that maxis tabman's got a flash of red on his crash helmet and hajar hasn't so you're looking at that and then you're confirming it with the camera on the top of the car that's how i'm doing driver id i guess also there must be an element of the truth sets you free because sometimes in sport you won't know it might be that there is a plume of smoke it might be that you can't see from the particular camera angle i remember i go back to my football reporting the first ever game i did for the bbc on in the uk bbc one the big network broadcaster and the first goal i had to report on was scored and my entire vision was obscured by a poll that kept the stadium upright i could not see for the life of me what had happened and it was my first thing to report and you do have to sometimes in sport don't be honest with your audience don't you and go yeah i'm not sure what's happened here but we'll find out i guess there's an element of honesty yeah there's an element of trying to cover that up as long as you possibly can yeah and uh season viewers will know that i you know you start padding and you're like when verstappen spun off yesterday in qualifying for the australian grand prix yeah for the australian grand prix where we're recording this my brain was like second red ball had jars off yes understandably so with the greatest respect to isaac had you because of the second red ball because of how things have been because max verstappen has never in my brain spun off and qualifying and hit a wall but you're like check it check it again you got to say who it is in the wall now it's max verstappen and then you hope that you've not just misidentified it or seen it wrong or the clouds not come over yes at the wrong moment and and it was yeah it was different but yeah it's tricky to do especially given if you get something dramatic like that it's usually a jump cut it's a it's a crash zoom or it's a car flying sideways and yeah you're not being able to use the number a lovely question cameron thank you for that uh don't forget f1 explains at f1.com to send your questions on anything f1 related a lovely one here by the way we've collected these over the course of the last season so many questions came in on commentary last season alex this is a lovely one from year egos in athens egos says why are the microphones in the commentary box the way they are now i'm sure egos here has seen when you alex you appear in vision on f1 tv's broadcasts from your commentary box where you're using a particular type of microphone we've got one on the desk in front of us just describe what he means here alex yeah he's talking about a lip mic which funnily enough held held to your top lip um they've had about the same design since the since the 1940s like the war yeah and so it's got this old school texture to it um it is essentially a directional microphone that can be used in very loud environments and so that's why it looks so distinctive um there's been no real need to redesign it through the years because it does work so well commentators get um a sort of rhythm with it so i i like to use the old school mic that's that's what i've done for for the the 11 years i've been broadcasting on motorsport uh along this uh commentary box row crofty for example prefers a headset and that's just the rhythm that he's got into that's that's that's that's what he wants you well with it and then obviously when we get to testing when we combine the teams the amount of swapping over is ridiculous because again it's uh you want to be comfortable and you want to do that and so yeah it's a directional microphone and it looks old school because it is old school and the design was so good in the 1940s they never needed to change it and um alex and his co-commentators have the luxury of microphones each but there are famous stories from the 70s of formula one where the late great murray walker whose commentary you'll have heard he used to share his commentary box with with many great drivers including the british world champion james hunt where they used to have to share a microphone and got into many heated arguments because of that whereas you you don't have to grab your microphone off joelian palmer you're fortunate can you imagine the aggro and arguments um there's a great story that murray walker put in his autobiography about how he'd uh he had the microphone yanked out of his hand by james hunt and pulled back his fist to punch him which is the least murray walker thing ever with the nicest man in the history of broadcasting but like you have the microphone you yanked out of your hand murray used to stand treat it like a performance sport uh james hunt sitting down feet up yanks it out of his hand and his producer wags his finger and goes don't hit your co-commentator uh love the bbc sharing a microphone what on earth were they thinking yeah what on earth were they thinking it's a huge coincidence because our next question is when have you felt most likely to punch jolian palmer no i'm joking of course i'm joking i've been working with him a while i'm you know i just used to his antics yeah yeah let me get on with it although actually cameron from glasgow his question which is our next one is around f1 commentary and punditry he says what i would like to know is how does it work is it the former driver's full-time job and how are drivers selected for their commentary and expertise so yes of course alex you commentate with the former formula one drivers jerry and palmer and david coultaud there are so many examples up and down the paddock of ex-drivers yeah how does it work how do they get picked how do they find their way into this you have to essentially have performed at a level that gives you the ability to pass judgment um and so but the cv alone is not enough you've got to be a quality broadcaster and if you're going to be a pundit you've got to be prepared to be unpopular sometimes you've got to say it like it is you've also got to have an ability to take very complex subjects and being able to explain them to and you know this year's rules are a perfect example of it so essentially you've got to have a great turn of phrase you've got to make the complicated very simple and accessible to understand you've got to have a bit of flair with your phraseology yeah there's there's no it's no good just being great but dry and entertainment and long-winded you've got to be able to sell it to everyone at home.

26:00I've been so fortunate through the years to have genuinely world-class sports broadcasters who happen to have driven around in circles for a long time beforehand. But a CV alone is not enough. You've got to be a great broadcaster and you've got to, and honestly, I think this is the key. You've got to want to be a great broadcaster. This is not their first career. For some sporting pundits, this is not where they wanted to be at this stage. but the great broadcasters uh who are who are sports co-commentators and pundits and summarizers and uh and analyzers work at not just what they knew but obtaining information and they work at the broadcast skill i'm going to add to that if you don't mind alex i know i'll tell you at the end yeah i often think sometimes watching at home people think well um you know the the the great whether it be Formula 1 drivers or football players make great commentators for example there is no just because he's won 7 world championships there's no guarantee that Lewis Hamilton would make a brilliant co-commentator we've got some fantastic examples of this within our team here in Formula 1 where Jolian Palmer and James Hinchcliffe are two examples I will use who were excellent racing drivers but Jolian will be the first to admit didn't win world championships in Formula 1 but is a world-class outstanding, not just broadcaster, because he is.

27:29He's a great presenter. He's led commentary sessions. James Hinchcliffe presents F1 TV. But they're also so good at explaining and unpacking. And the two things don't necessarily always go hand in hand. You can have someone that has done everything in a sport but can't necessarily describe that on air. Yeah, and you don't have that automatically. You have that by trying at it. It's really annoying. Oh, it's so annoying. Because with Hinch and Jolian, both very nice men, very talented racing drivers, Hinch can only dance, can dance as well. It's just not on because talking is the only thing I'm even half good at.

28:04It's frankly a disgrace. Anyway, looking forward to Hinch coming back on the podcast soon. Alex, your relationship with these guys who sit next to you, you're with them for hours at a time over a race weekend. Does it maintain and build differently? It helps if you get on. I imagine. yeah it's a very very strange one because i grew up watching dc on on the telly and then you're having to you know ask him the questions if something controversial happens sometimes you're having to ask questions that maybe he would want to stay away from but he's got to give a verdict on because everyone at home is thinking what does david caulford think about this controversial incident so that's quite fun no i i'm very very lucky in that i've not only been this is a good point and i'm glad you've raised this i've been very fortunate in that i've uh been sat next to people who are genuinely great people and wonderful to spend time with and travel the world with as well as great broadcasters yes and not always the same thing no no no so that's that's been a treat and it makes life a lot easier the one thing i i i'm adamant about that you need is you need you need warmth in a commentary you're you're the everyone at home is giving you their weekend you don't want to be like oh that's terrible i should have passed him oh no you don't want to be the paddock police you you want to be you want to be fun to hang out with and i've been very fortunate in the the camaraderie you're here on air is real we've both been told off by paddock police at various points you do spend a lot of your time in formula one getting told off of being in somewhere you shouldn't be you're accidentally going sorry yeah and you don't want that on air um alex we're we're nearly done but just before we go um we see and hear your clips of commentary on those big moments so let's talk about the most recent one for example when you're crowning a new world champion we obviously crowned lando norris as our world champion at the end of 2025 you know when you're going into that abu dhabi race you know i'm gonna crown a new world champion here how much do you think about that how much do you think about those moments where it's like okay this is big or is it best to just not think about it how do you go about the real big moments that you know okay something big's happening here you think about the elements but you don't so i going into the the last race in abu dhabi i'm i'm thinking of points that i might want to hit for each three drivers so to run you through before the lights went out in abu dhabi my rough thinking was if max wins it's the comeback of all comebacks so i'm probably going to lead with that if lando wins i thought the element of him staying loyal to mclaren when he could have left for a red ball seat was really interesting sure and for oscar piastri the idea that he you know it would slip through his fingers and he'd get it back that what a turnaround kind of thing how you say it has to fit the moment and i'm absolutely adamant about this how how you communicate that has to fit and there's a great example from abidabby 2021 where you can have all of the planning and you can come up with all of the ideas of what you might say but because the ending was so unexpected the words have to fit the moment and it's as an example of so you you think of the elements that you might want to highlight but the formation and the phraseology has to come in the moment because it's got to fit the pictures and it's got to fit how it feels to everyone at home you can't probe by your own thing in alex shakes is a joy to hear you commentate and I sincerely mean that.

31:29So thank you for guiding us through the wonderful world of Formula 1. And also thank you for taking the time to answer our listeners' questions on a busy race weekend, because as I say, that is just some of the questions we've had on commentary over the last few months. So we appreciate your time, Alex Jakes. Thank you very much indeed. Thank you for having me on the podcast. And as you can tell, I absolutely love talking about commentary, so this has been a joy. Oh, good. Excellent. Well, it's been a joy to do. Thank you very much, Alex Jakes. We have new episodes of F1 Explains every Friday.

31:55And of course, new for this season, we're on the same feed as F1 Nation. so hit follow, like or subscribe for race previews and race debriefs with Tom Clarkson and we have new episodes of F1 Explains every Friday. We'll be back next Friday of course so do send us your questions F1explains at F1.com and we'll answer more of them soon. From here in Australia, bye for now.