Ahead of a bigger interview to be posted next week, I was delighted to chat with renowned commentator Alex Jacques all about F2 ahead of the Monaco Grand Prix weekend.
During our chat we were able to chat about a number of topics, but I asked Alex just six questions, for which he gave some excellent answers, and here they are!
📸 Alex(left) with ex-F1 driver Jolyon Palmer in the comms box.
1. Which driver on the current grid do you think has the most potential? Pre season I'd have said Ollie Bearman, and after Baku I'd definitely still say Bearman! Any driver who won German(ADAC) and Italian F4 comes on your radar and he did just that. His adaptability is and speed are incredible and with that link with Ferrari his ceiling is high.
📸 Oliver Bearman is certainly one to watch this year.
2. What’s your favourite F2 memory? The entire 2018 season just became one big thing for me. We had Russell, Norris, Albon all right at the sharp end and it was just an amazing season to watch and be a part of.
📸 George Russell took the 2018 title and was one of 6 drivers(Nyck De Vries, Nicholas Latifi, Alex Albon, Lando Norris, Jack Aitken and George Russell) who'd go on to race in F1 on the grid that year.
On a personal scale Monza 2017 too was chaos. I was with Davide Valsecchi watching overtakes everywhere as it got darker and darker and the thing I remember is Davide punching my arm every time an overtake happened!
3. We’re at Monaco this weekend, what’s your favourite F2 at Monaco memory? There's so many from my time, but I think it's got to be (Anthoine) Hubert's win. He was driving beyond his skill level and managed to hold off (Louis) Deletraz incredibly well. Really excellent drive from him.
📸 The late Anthoine Hubert celebrates a stunning win in Monaco. Gone but absolutely not forgotten.
4. There’s been a lot of entertaining things happen in F2, what’s the funniest thing you remember happening on track?
We've seen drivers at Baku failing massively to execute a three point turn. Proper Austin Powers impression. Not naming any names of course!
📸 Mahaveer Raghunathan will thank me for not posting the video of this!
5. Focus again on this year, who are you tipping for the title at this stage? At the start of the season it was Theo Pourchaire and it still is now. For someone to finish second overall one year and come back for more, the expectation is that they should do it. So yeah, Theo Pourchaire.
📸 Current championship leader Theo Pourchaire is also Alfa Romeo's reserve driver.
6. Who has surprised you the most this year? Kush Maini. He was surprising in F3 last year with race winning pace, but maybe not the results to match but he's kept that momentum going into F2. This can change fast at this level and he seems to be able to adapt to anything, he's been good in the wet, on the street and in the dry so who knows how much better he can get?
📸 Campos Racing's Kush Maini has had an impressive year or so and has improved massively, impressing many since he stepped up to F2 after a year in F3 with MP Motorsport.
Thanks to Alex for doing this sort interview and giving some insight into this season, and seasons gone by in F2! Hopefully we'll do something like this again!
Full interview about Alex's career coming next week!
In the meantime, enjoy the Monaco race weekend!
📸 Image credits: Formula Motorsport Limited.
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