James Allen (Formula One commentator)
| James Allen | |
|---|---|
| Born |
5 November 1966 Liverpool, United Kingdom |
| Residence | London |
| Nationality | British |
| Alma mater |
Merchant Taylors' School, Crosby Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford |
| Occupation | Journalist; Commentator |
James Allen (born 5 November 1966), is a British radio/TV commentator and journalist, who worked as Formula One (F1) commentator for ITV from 2000 to 2008, and subsequently as BBC Radio 5 Live F1 commentator, BBC News F1 Correspondent and reporter for Ten Sport in Australia.
Allen was a pupil at Merchant Taylors' School, Crosby, and student of English and Modern Languages at Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford. His father Bill raced for Lotus at Le Mans in the early 1960s and was in the sport's administration, on the RAC motor sports council.
Allen started his F1 career with the Brabham team in 1990, and in 1991 worked with future TV colleagues Mark Blundell and Martin Brundle. He was news editor at Autosport magazine from 1992 to 1994 and in parallel worked as F1 pit lane reporter for American network ESPN from 1993 to 1996.
With Nigel Mansell's move to IndyCar in 1993, Allen was hired by ITV in 1994 to help present coverage of the season. When ITV gained the rights to broadcast the Formula One championship in 1997, he joined the team as pit lane reporter.
With Murray Walker unable to commentate at the 2000 French Grand Prix, Allen took over as one of the main commentators alongside Martin Brundle. Walker wound down his career the next year, missing five races, all of which Allen covered. ITV had considered trying a number of guest commentators to decide who would be best suited to replace Walker, but instead opted to keep Allen on board full-time. He took over permanently after the 2001 United States Grand Prix and commentated on every subsequent Grand Prix while the sport was broadcast on ITV. The 2007 Canadian Grand Prix was Allen's 100th as a commentator. Allen also wrote a "James Allen's Analysis" for the ITV website. His last commentary for ITV was the 2008 Brazilian Grand Prix when ITV's F1 broadcast contract ended.
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