Over the past three years Jake Humphrey has gone from being the surprise choice to front the BBC’s F1 coverage to being one of the most popular and acclaimed sports presenters on TV.
As one of the only young sports presenters at the BBC, the world is currently at his feet, and it’s clear that he is going to be a big fixture on our TV screens for many years to come.
At the BBC F1 press launch I chatted to Jake about what the year holds for the BBC’s F1 coverage, Formula 1 itself and his immediate and long term future.
Whilst he has other plans and ambitions, what quickly becomes clear is just how passionate he is about Formula 1 and fronting the BBC’s coverage of it.
TF1T: Was there ever a chance of you leaving the BBC to join Sky?
JH: It was always the BBC for me. I think that Sky will produce incredible Formula 1 coverage and they will do a brilliant job. But the kind of broadcasting and kind of F1 coverage that I like is what the BBC do, which is hanging out with my mates in the pit lane, giving honest coverage of Formula 1, embracing the human side of the sport. And also I like tele with a big audience and tens of millions of people watching me.

The BBC trio will remain for 2012: Humphrey, Coulthard and Jordan.
To go to Sky would mean I would miss out on being involved in those big national moments. So it would affect me doing the Olympics and the World Cup and New Year’s Eve and all that sort of stuff.
TF1T: Were there any talks between you and Sky at any point?
JH: No there wasn’t, no it didn’t go that far.
TF1T: How committed are you to F1 in the long term?
JH: I want to have a varied career and I want to do lots of stuff not just within sport but outside of sport as well but I am completely nailed down that I want Formula 1 to be the sort of fulcrum throughout my career and I want that to be the acorn that helps grow the tree basically. I would love to be sitting here talking to you in 30 years time and I’ve gone and done loads of other different programmes but that I have always been the BBC’s Formula 1 guy. I like to think that as long as the BBC have got Formula 1 I will be their presenter for it because I absolutely love it.
TF1T: What’s your take on the Bahrain GP situation, are we going?

Bahrain GP under threat (© Team Lotus/Caterham).
JH: Well, it looks like we are going and I think it’s a very difficult situation for us because if we get told that there is a race happening it’s inevitable that we have to go and we have to cover that race. I think with sport you have to be very careful because as soon as you start saying well, if there is any human rights concerns then you shouldn’t go there, well that rules us out going to quite a few different places.
TF1T: Like China for example?
JH: Exactly, if you start not going to places for those reasons then you make a real rod for your own back and I think we have to trust the FIA, we have to trust the teams and if there is any question over safety of teams or of the journalists or if it looks like the Bahrain authorities are not treating their citizens in the right way, still, then I think that we shouldn’t go.
TF1T: Do you have any fears about going to Bahrain?
JH: I suppose again it’s an element of trust, and I think if they send us out there then we have to trust that they know that we are going to be safe. My concern isn’t really about my own safety. My concern is that a place like Bahrain is doing right by their people and if they are doing right by their people, then we should be there and we should enjoy Formula 1 racing. If not then we shouldn’t.
TF1T: Is 20 races in a season too many or just the right amount?

This season sees a record 20 races with a return to the USA.
JH: I think 20 races is ok but I think 20 is the absolute limit. No more. But I think 20 is a good number. It keeps F1 in people’s minds all year long.
TF1T: This year we have the Euro 2012 and the Olympics. How important is it for Formula 1 to stand out?
JH: Yeah it’s huge. I think it’s a huge year for Formula 1. I think it’s going to be helped by the fact we have got six champions on the grid. I think the fact that there is a whole new broadcaster in Sky has hugely ramped up the interest in this country. It’s actually going to help it stand out. I think our job is to rise to the challenge. Sky will raise the bar. Sky will do amazing things and we’ve got to react to that.
So we’re going to have to do incredible things as well so I think all these things will play into the hands of the sport and yes it’s the year where we have got the Olympics in London and we’ve got the Euros. It’s going to be hard for any sport other than those to stand out but I think out of all of them F1 can.
TF1T: Could 2012 be a classic year for F1, and is it in good health?
JH: Yeah I think F1 is in incredible health. You’ve got 20 races as things stand. You’ve got a quarter of the grid who have already won the title. We’ve got a really close pre-season with less than a second between all the teams. I think that will give us really classic racing this year.
TF1T: So you think it’s going to be close?

A record six world champions on the grid in 2012 (14 titles).
JH: I think it is close, yeah. It’s hard to judge testing times but I think it’s closer than in previous years. I think added to that McLaren haven’t won the constructor’s championship since 1998, not good enough. Ferrari have had a few seasons to forget, not good enough. Mercedes have yet to won a race since they returned, not good enough. Williams struggled hugely last year, not good enough. The new teams are still yet to get close to scoring a point, not good enough.
All of these people will be looking to raise the bar. That will just make Formula 1 more dramatic and more exciting and more closely fought than ever before.
TF1T: Who is your tip for the title?
JH: I think it’s hard to look beyond Sebastian Vettel, and I can’t see any reason that Seb won’t do it. It would take a brave man to bet against him. I think as much as the teams behind are inspired, I think the fact that Red Bull have now got a chance to do the hat-trick is something people have forgotten about and Sebastian Vettel and that team will sit down and they will say after this year who knows what will happen, how long can we retain this hunger and desire to win. Now we have got the chance to go out there and get a hat-trick of back to back triple world titles and that will inspire them hugely.
TF1T: You’ve spoken to Sebastian Vettel a lot, what’s he like as a person?
JH: He’s incredible, you don’t want to like the guy because he looks like a 15 year old whose skipping a Maths lesson, he’s got incredible natural ability, smashing down everyone around him driving amazingly well, he’s incredibly consistent, when he needs to put in a hot lap he does it. After all those things it makes you think god I really don’t want to like this guy then you meet him and spend some time with in his company and he’s fantastic. He’s engaging, he’s funny, he understands what’s going on around him and I couldn’t say a bad word against him.
TF1T: Are there some teams that are more accessible than others?

BBC enjoys intimate access to the drivers (© Red Bull/Getty Images).
JH: Yeah, I think Ferrari are pretty difficult to get hold of their drivers as and when you want them but they are a big team and they’ve got a lot of demands on their time. Same with McLaren to an extent, they’ve got lots of demands from various sponsors and other broadcasters. It’s our job to get those drivers as and when we can.
What we have found is as long as we’ve got a good relationship with the drivers and as long as they enjoy talking to us and it doesn’t feel like a job, then we will get that access and we will get the interviews that we need. I think nothing will change this year in terms of us getting access because we’re still going to be the broadcaster with the big audience.
TF1T: What do you make of Paul Di Resta? If he can beat Nico Hulkenberg has he got a good chance of landing a seat at Mercedes?
JH: Yeah I think so, I think McLaren like the look of Paul, I think Mercedes like the look of Paul and I think a lot of other teams knocking around also do. But he has to really nail it this year. I think he did very well against Adrian [Sutil] until the back end of the season [when] Sutil had his number a little bit at times. There were a couple of moments for example in the race at Silverstone, incredible qualifying, but the race didn’t quite pan out they way he wanted it.
I think he will be looking to capitalise on the fact that Force India look like they’ve got a good car out this year. It’s his second year in the sport, he’s no longer a rookie and I think it will be a big year for him.
TF1T: Out of the ten live races you have are you happy with the selection?

The BBC will have ten live races (above).
JH: Yeah, I think when you’ve only got half of them live there are always going to be other races that you would like to take live. But the important thing is even with the races I love that we haven’t got live we can still make really fantastic highlights races out of those.
And a few of those are sort of lunchtime races, we’re going to put those on the BBC at 5:30 in the evening. So when people say it’s so frustrating that you haven’t got for example the Italian GP, Monza live. We have got Monza at 5:30 on Sunday night on the BBC for the first time as a prime time Italian Grand Prix. I think let’s look at the positives of the races that aren’t live. All people will see them.