A new-look Formula E presenting team will guide us through the 10th season of the championship in 2024, set to get underway in Mexico City this weekend.
Whilst recognisable faces like Nicki Shields and Karun Chandhok remain in the broadcast team, new names such as David Coulthard and Billy Monger are also entering the fray.
Meanwhile, the surprise addition of Jermaine Jenas is set to lead the coverage, which is now to be shown exclusively live on TNT Sports, formerly BT Sport.
To look ahead to his motorsport presenting debut, Motorsport Monday sat down with the former England footballer to chat about his new role…
Jermaine, congratulations, how excited are you to be joining the Formula E presenting team?
“I’m ridiculously excited. There’s so much to love about this sport. I am new to the sport granted and when I’ve kept across it it’s been more visually for a couple of years than too serious in terms of getting really deep into the technicalities of everything, but I’ve always enjoyed motorsport in general and I watch a lot of Formula One.
“When I was given the opportunity to do it, it was just like, ‘how do I get involved?’ You might think is that crossover going work? But at the end of the day, I think the overriding factor was the sport is going somewhere and I want to be a part of it and that was it really.”
When did you first start taking a keen interest in motorsport?
“I’d say about seven years ago, so probably a couple of years before the Drive to Survive stuff started with F1. I mean, it was mainly Lewis [Hamilton,] I suppose. He was almost like a Tiger Woods-type figure, and for someone who was mixed race I kind of related to the journey that he was going on. That got me into Formula One during that period of time and then I’ve always been interested.
“So then when Formula E kind of started its journey, which was probably a couple of years prior to when I was watching Formula One, it was a bit like is it going to work? But 10 years later it’s unbelievable how quick the sport has taken off and where it’s at.”
And obviously FE has a lot of relevance to road cars today…
“It makes sense for a lot of teams to kind of be involved in it for numerous reasons. The sustainability element, the road element. The manufacturers are going to obviously be selling cars on the back of championships and it’s that development that we’re going to be getting to have as normal people in our own cars on a day-to-day basis.
“So they’re kind of leading that conversation in FE to give us the best kind of vehicles that we’re going to be driving and all going to be driving at a certain point in the very near future.”
Where are you most excited about visiting in 2024?
“Tokyo is quite high on that list if I’m totally honest with you! It was the one that the wife and the kids were like we want you to take us. I think when you kind of think about motor racing in general, how much they love their cars in Japan, visually what it’s going to look like at the track, I think there’s a lot of excitement for me personally around that weekend.”
Are you ready for all the travel and the hectic schedule?
“The jetlag is going to probably be different, I’m not going to lie! I think the beauty of doing it as a team, and not just a team but as a sport, is you’ll turn up and everyone’s going be feeling very similar.
“But it’ll be like get up and go time and it’s important that you take the sport to the world and give everybody a feeling of what it’s about because you just don’t know whose mind you’re going to spark off. A child might look at it and go, I want to be an FE driver. It’s going to be a lot of travelling but who wouldn’t want to travel the world and watch amazing sport and work on a major sport and meet new people. What an opportunity!”
Formula E starts its 10th season in Mexico on January 13th live on TNT Sports.
