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Jaime Alguersuari joins BBC Radio 5 Live (12 posts)

Topic tags: BBC, BBC Radio 5 Live, Jaiem Alguersuari

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Keith Collantine said 1 year, 2 months ago:

An interesting choice of addition to BBC’s F1 radio coverage – ex-Toro Rosso pilot Jaime Alguersuari:

Jaime Alguersuari will join Radio 5 live’s Formula 1 commentary team as an expert summariser, completing the experienced BBC presentation line up that will bring the 2012 season to fans through a mix of live coverage and highlights, across TV, radio, red button and online.

Alguersuari started his racing career at 15 years old, competing at the Italian Formula Renault 1600. He subsequently moved on to win the Formula Renault 2.0, before winning the British Formula 3 Championship, racing for the Carlin Motorsport team at the age of 18 and graduating to the Renault World Series the following year.

He received the call to join Toro Rosso’s F1 team in 2009 and became the youngest Formula 1 driver in history, at the age of 19, at the 2009 Hungarian Grand Prix. He continued to race for Torro Rosso through the 2010 and 2011 seasons, beating all the Toro Rosso records since the team became independent from Red Bull. In the 2011 F1 season Jaime built his reputation further, qualifying in a career best 6th position at the Belgian Grand Prix and finishing 7th in both the Korean and Italian Grands Prix and 8th in the European Canadian and Indian GP’s with a total of 26 points.

Jaime Alguersuari said: “It’s great to be part of the BBC’s F1 commentary team on Radio 5 live. It will be interesting to look at the action from a different angle and bring that excitement and insight to listeners. Given that I’m still only 21, this agreement permits me to return to F1. It promises to be another exciting season and I can’t wait for it to start.”

BBC Radio 5 live Controller Adrian Van Klaveren said: “We’re delighted to have Jaime on board, his engaging personality makes him a great addition to 5 live for the 2012 F1 season. We are going to make the most of Jaime’s first-hand experience right now knowing he could well be driving for one of the teams again in the near future.”

Jaime will follow the F1 season for Radio 5 live offering his expert analysis to complement the commentary team of lead commentator James Allen, who as F1 correspondent will also report on F1 across the station throughout the season and pit lane reporter Jennie Gow.

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Magnificent Geoffrey said 1 year, 2 months ago:

Think of all the drivers who have had a career in F1 and then become commentators. Brundle, Davidson, Coulthard.

Now add Alguersuari to that list. He is 21. That’s…amazing to me.

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robk23 said 1 year, 2 months ago:

That’s an interesting choice, I’m keen to see how this works out. I’ll probably be listening to a few practice sessions and races as and when I’m not near the TV. I have to say the decision to take a young driver is better as Alguersuari is far more relevant to contemporary Formula 1. With myself being 19 I find it a bit harder to relate to experts talking about Formula 1 15+ years ago.

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Asanator said 1 year, 2 months ago:

He’ll struggle to get a word in with JA as lead commentator

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raymondu999 said 1 year, 2 months ago:

I’ll tune in to 5Live if Buemi has track time – I’d love to hear what Algie has to say :P

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GeorgeDaviesF1 said 1 year, 2 months ago:

JA/JL & JA in comms box, JG in the pitlane, JS producer, JB after retirement?

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Jack said 1 year, 2 months ago:

Wow…. I don´t know how to interpret this… Lets see what the first thing he complains about is… I can´t stand that guy… What can he actually bring to the table with only 3 seasons of experience?

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Estesark said 1 year, 2 months ago:

@Jack22, I have actually found that Alguersuari has some of the more interesting things to say amongst the current generation of F1 drivers. He is also one of the few drivers known (in a positive way) for off-track activities as well, like his music. He doesn’t have a lot of F1 experience, but he will know exactly how the cars were set up last season, which is still pretty similar to this season.

It’s pretty impossible to say whether he will shine on the radio, but I think it’s a pretty interesting move by the BBC.

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robk23 said 1 year, 2 months ago:

@Jack22 Jaime Alguersuari has participated in nearly twice as many races as Anthony Davidson did and Ant’s forged a career as a respectable commentator.

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raymondu999 said 1 year, 2 months ago:

Alguersuari is inexperienced in terms of being an F1 driver; but he has enough experience; and very relevant experience. As long as anyone has done a qualifying session; and a race; on Pirellis; let alone one where he “grew” in how he handled them – initially struggling on them then adapting – would make fantastic insights from commentary.

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Bullfrog said 1 year, 2 months ago:

Jaime’s insight has got to be more relevant than Coulthard or Davidson’s, even Brundle’s. He should be able to communicate it too – I thought he always came across clearly on team radio, during practice when he was talking to his team.

I’m intrigued now and I’ll give them a listen, even though I wasn’t a fan of James Allen’s live commentary before (his new podcast’s promising though, with some good interviews). Gotta be better than trying to avoid the result!

I believe he deserves another shot at F1, he got some good results last year as the BBC release says. OK, most of the teams have an experienced reserve driver (Buemi, d’Ambrosio) or a young guy who’s probably good enough, like Bianchi, Bottas or Gutierrez – but he turned down a drive from Lotus didn’t he – and no doubt he’ll have his seat and helmet at the back of the commentary box ready to go, so good luck to him in grabbing any chance that turns up.

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Keith Collantine said 1 year, 2 months ago:

Good to see they’ve got someone with current experience in. I’m expecting interesting nuggets of information… and hopefully a pop or two at Helmut Marko as well.

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