“This Will Be My Final Year”: Alex Jacques Announces Retirement From F2 Commentary After 10 Years

Alex Jacques, a pillar of the F2 commentary panel for the past decade, has announced that 2024 will be his last year with the junior series.

“This will be my final year as the @Formula2 commentator,” Jacques posed on X. “I’m beyond grateful to have had the chance to call ten seasons of the very best racing. It’s really not going to be easy to say goodbye – the role changed my life. I hope you can join our team for the final races.”

It is fitting that Jacques will wrap up his F2 commentary career by covering the final race in Abu Dhabi of what has been the closest championship battle in the history of the series. The title protagonists Gabriel Bortoleto and Isack Hadjar are separated by only 0.5 points. The commentator has a golden opportunity to end things with a flourish, covering the action in his veritable and iconic commentary style.

Jacques brought a balance of detailed motorsport knowledge and passionate calling of the races in F2, becoming a popular voice among the fans of the feeder series. This eventually helped him become an F1 commentator, joining Channel 4 as their lead commentator in 2021.

In 2023, he joined F1TV as their lead commentator and has since gained a lot of popularity for his unique takes, particularly about the race winners toward the end of the races. This season, many of Jacques’ race-closing commentary calls have become viral. He had an uncanny ability to strike an emotional chord through his personalized takes on each driver.

Jacques’ touching commentary on Charles Leclerc’s Monaco GP triumph

The 2024 Monaco GP turned out to be one of the moments that made Jacques famous as the new voice of F1. His touching monologue on Leclerc’s maiden win at home captured the imagination of the fans. The victory was a long-awaited and cherished one for the Monegasque. It had a lot of backstory and emotional connection to Leclerc’s family, his homeland, and his passion for F1.

Jacques narrated it all as Leclerc rounded the final lap of the Monaco GP. The F1TV commentator recalled the Ferrari driver’s fabled lie to his late father that he had made it to F1. The symphony of words flowed like music after that, summarising the significance of Leclerc’s win in the Principality.

“The grandstands he saw built as a kid growing up now rise for him. For the first time in 93 years, this fabled race is won by one of their own. Charles Leclerc wins the Monaco Grand Prix to achieve his dream,” Jacques had narrated, when Leclerc finally took the chequered flag in front of his home crowd.

Jacques would love to produce something similar for his final F2 race coverage in Abu Dhabi.

Once the dust settles on the season, he would be looking forward to focus fully on F1 from 2025 onward. Alex surely has a long way to match veteran F1 commentators like Murray Walker, David Croft, and Martin Brundle. But he sure has proven his panache over the years both at F2 as well as calling races at the pinnacle of motorsports.