James Allen (Formula One commentator)

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James Allen (born 11 May 1966) is a British Formula One commentator for ITV. Formerly a pupil at Merchant Taylors' School, Crosby, and student of English and Modern Languages at Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford, Allen's career in Formula One began as press officer of the Brabham racing team in 1990. Following the team's closure in 1992, Allen became news editor at Autosport magazine. The following year, Allen was recruited by ESPN to act as their pit lane reporter.

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With Nigel Mansell's move to IndyCar in 1993, Allen was brought in by ITV 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. Murray wound down his career the next year, missing five races, all of which James covered. ITV had considered trying a number of guest commentators to garner who would be best suited to replace Murray, but instead opted to keep Allen on board full-time. He took over permanently after the 2001 United States Grand Prix and has since commentated on every Grand Prix. Allen has had two books published - co-writing Nigel Mansell's autobiography; and Quest for Redemption (also published as Driven to Extremes), following Michael Schumacher during the 1998 season.

Allen is married and lives in London. He has one son, Enzo, named after Ferrari founder, Enzo Ferrari.