Benjamin Hugh Railton Edwards (born 20 December 1965) is a

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. * British national identity, the characteristics of British people and culture ...

motor racing An engine or motor is a machine designed to convert one or more forms of energy into mechanical energy. Available energy sources include potential energy (e.g. energy of the Earth's gravitational field as exploited in hydroelectric power gene ...

commentator employed by

Formula One Formula One (F1) is the highest class of worldwide racing for open-wheel single-seater formula Auto racing, racing cars sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). The FIA Formula One World Championship has been one ...

, and formerly employed by Channel 4. In the past, he has voiced television coverage of

Superleague Formula Superleague Formula was an Open wheel car, open wheel single seater Formula racing, motor racing formula, which started in 2008, at Donington Park in the United Kingdom. The league introduced team sponsorship by association football clubs. It u ...

and the

British Touring Car Championship The British Touring Car Championship (BTCC), officially known as the Kwik Fit British Touring Car Championship for sponsorship reasons, is a touring car racing series held each year in the United Kingdom, currently organised and administered by ...

, in addition to

DVD The DVD (common abbreviation for digital video disc or digital versatile disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any ki ...

Reviews for Duke Video. After spending well over a decade working for networks including

Eurosport Eurosport is a group of pay television networks in Europe and parts of Asia, owned and operated by Warner Bros. Discovery through its WBD Sports unit, it operates two main channels—Eurosport 1 and Eurosport 2—across most of its territorie ...

ESPN ESPN (an initialism of their original name, which was the Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by the Walt Disney Company (80% and operational control) and Hearst Commu ...

, ITV and F1 Digital +, he was named the

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

's lead TV commentator on its Formula One coverage from 2012 in December 2011. He is known for his enthusiastic and energetic commentary style. In 2022, Edwards was one of the commentators for F1TV’s Formula One racing coverage. As of June 2023, he will also assume a role as one of the main commentators in respect of

Formula E Formula E, officially the ABB FIA Formula E World Championship, is an open-wheel single-seater motorsport championship for electric cars. The racing series is the highest class of competition for electrically powered single-seater racing cars ...

. He is not to be confused with the Pick-up Truck racer of the same name.

Career

Starting out

Brought up in

Surrey Surrey () is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Greater London to the northeast, Kent to the east, East Sussex, East and West Sussex to the south, and Hampshire and Berkshire to the wes ...

, Edwards first started out in

motorsport Motorsport or motor sport are sporting events, competitions and related activities that primarily involve the use of Car, automobiles, motorcycles, motorboats and Aircraft, powered aircraft. For each of these vehicle types, the more specific term ...

as a

mechanic A mechanic is a skilled tradesperson who uses tools to build, maintain, or repair machinery, especially engines. Formerly, the term meant any member of the handicraft trades, but by the early 20th century, it had come to mean one who works w ...

for

Formula Ford Formula Ford, also known as F1600 and Formula F, is an entry-level class of single-seater, open-wheel formula racing. The various championships held across the world have historically been an important step for many prospective Formula One dri ...

teams in 1982, before beginning a career as a

racing driver Auto racing (also known as car racing, motor racing, or automobile racing) is a motorsport involving the racing of automobiles for competition. In North America, the term is commonly used to describe all forms of automobile sport including non ...

. He won the first Formula First championship, a now defunct championship for new drivers, and went to become champion in

Caterham Caterham () is a town in the Tandridge (district), Tandridge district of Surrey, England. The town is administratively divided into two: Caterham on the Hill, and Caterham Valley, which includes the main town centre in the middle of a dry valle ...

Vauxhall Vauxhall ( , ) is an area of South London, within the London Borough of Lambeth. Named after a medieval manor called Fox Hall, it became well known for the Vauxhall Pleasure Gardens. From the Victorian period until the mid-20th century, Va ...

sports cars. He also took part in the Euro Vauxhall Lotus championship where he raced against the likes of

David Coulthard David Marshall Coulthard (born 27 March 1971) is a British former racing driver and sports broadcasting, broadcaster from Scotland who competed in Formula One from to . Nicknamed "DC", Coulthard was runner-up in the Formula One World Drivers' ...

, who is now his co-commentator, and

Mika Häkkinen Mika Pauli Häkkinen (; born 28 September 1968) is a Finnish former racing driver, who competed in Formula One from to . Nicknamed "the Flying Finn", Häkkinen won two Formula One World Drivers' Championship titles, which he won in and with M ...

. He contested the last ever Willhire 24 Hours in a Ford Escort in 1994. He first started commentating after enjoying his experience teaching racing at

Brands Hatch Brands Hatch is a motor racing circuit in West Kingsdown, Kent, England, United Kingdom. Originally used as a grasstrack motorcycle circuit on farmland, it hosted 12 runnings of the British Grand Prix between 1964 and 1986 and currently hosts ...

and

Snetterton Snetterton is a village and civil parish in Norfolk, England. The village is about east-northeast of Thetford and southwest of Norwich. The civil parish has an area of . The United Kingdom Census 2011, 2011 Census recorded a parish population ...

. His first commentary position was for the

with

Tiff Needell Timothy Richard "Tiff" Needell (born 29 October 1951) is a British racing driver and television presenter. He is a presenter of '' Lovecars'', and formerly served as co-presenter of '' Top Gear'' and '' Fifth Gear''. Biography Needell attende ...

, but he became known to British viewers through his

commentary on

. He was usually partnered with former Formula One race winner John Watson.

Champ Car

When Eurosport lost the rights to Formula One at the end of 1996, Edwards became the voice of

Champ Car Champ Car World Series (CCWS) was the series sanctioned by Open-Wheel Racing Series Inc., a Governing body, sanctioning body for American open-wheel car racing that operated from 2004 to 2008. It was the successor to Championship Auto Racing T ...

racing for viewers of Eurosport and

International, also carried by Channel 5. His work alongside Jeremy Shaw was regarded as a big success. Although Edwards was very popular with the viewers, he gradually became tired of commuting from Britain to the United States for every race. He considered moving permanently to the United States. In 2001, Edwards was replaced by Guy Hobbs as the main Champ Car commentator, but he did commentate for the races in Japan, Detroit, Mid-Ohio, Germany, Houston and Australia when Hobbs had other commitments, and at the

Rockingham Motor Speedway Rockingham Motor Speedway was a motorsport racing venue in Rockingham, Northamptonshire, Rockingham, Northamptonshire, England, United Kingdom, near the town of Corby. It hosted professional and club races, as well as testing, track days, driv ...

race.

Return to England

In 2002, Edwards joined ITV to commentate on the

. He also took on the role of lead commentator for F1 Digital +, and was reunited with his old colleague, John Watson. F1 Digital + finished at the end of the 2002 season, but since 2005 Watson and Edwards have been working together on Sky Sports and the international feed for

A1 Grand Prix A1 Grand Prix Operations Ltd. operated as A1 Grand Prix (A1GP) was a "single-make" open-wheel auto racing series that ran from 2005 until 2009. It was unique in its field in that competitors solely represented their nation as opposed to themse ...

. On occasions when

and

races clashed, he was replaced on ITV by

John Hindhaugh John Hindhaugh (born 1962) is a sports commentator and broadcaster from Sunderland, England. He resides in Thrapston, Northamptonshire, United Kingdom with his wife Eve Hewitt, the managing director of Radio Show Limited, the production company of ...

. Edwards has also commentated on other motorsport events for Eurosport and British TV, including coverage of the British Formula Three Championship (alongside Martin Haven), and the

series.

BBC F1

On 13 December 2011, it was confirmed that Edwards would replace

Martin Brundle Martin John Brundle (born 1 June 1959) is a British former racing driver and sports broadcasting, broadcaster who competed in Formula One from to . In endurance racing (motorsport), endurance racing, Brundle won the World Sportscar Champions ...

as the

's lead commentator for Formula One in 2012, working alongside

. Toby Moody took Edwards' place for the BTCC in 2012. Edwards worked across BBC TV, Radio and online. Edwards made a one-off return to the BBC in 2021 for the 2021 Spanish Grand Prix, commentating on

BBC Radio 5 Live BBC Radio 5 Live is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It broadcasts mainly news, sport, Talk show, discussion, interviews and phone-ins, and is on air 24 hours a day. It is the principal BBC radio station Broadca ...

, filling in for Jack Nicholls. He also replaced Nicholls for the 2021 French Grand Prix. Following Nicholls's departure from the BBC following allegations of inappropriate behaviour in 2023, Edwards has been one of the BBC's and F1 Radio rotating lead commentators.

Channel 4 F1

In 2016, Edwards moved to

Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by Channel Four Television Corporation. It is state-owned enterprise, publicly owned but, unlike the BBC, it receives no public funding and is funded en ...

to continue commentating on Formula 1, again working alongside

. The move came after the BBC terminated its TV rights agreement early, and Channel 4 picked the deal up. Edwards stepped down from his commentary role at

after the conclusion of the 2020 season. He was succeeded by Alex Jacques. However he subsequently filled in for Jacques at the

2021 Styrian Grand Prix The 2021 Styrian Grand Prix (officially known as the Formula 1 BWT Großer Preis der Steiermark 2021) was a Formula One motor race that took place on 27 June 2021 at the Red Bull Ring in Spielberg, Austria as the eighth round of the 2021 Formul ...

and 2021 Austrian Grand Prix when Jacques had to self-isolate after Billy Monger tested positive for

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2. In January 2020, the disease spread worldwide, resulting in the COVID-19 pandemic. The symptoms of COVID‑19 can vary but often include fever ...

F1TV

In 2022, Edwards rejoined the Formula One Media team at its

Biggin Hill Biggin Hill is a town in the London Borough of Bromley, about south-southeast of Charing Cross. It is separated from London's built-up area by the Metropolitan green belt and is located adjacent to the Greater London boundary with Kent and ...

headquarters to lead the commentary for F1TV's worldwide output. In this role, he commentated alongside former Formula One driver

Jolyon Palmer Jolyon Carlyle Palmer (born 20 January 1991) is a British former racing driver, broadcaster and journalist, who competed in Formula One from to . Since retiring from racing, Palmer has been a pundit for the BBC, Channel 4 and F1TV. Prior to ...

. For the 2023 and 2024 British Grands Prix he substituted for F1TV Live as Alex Jacques was commentating for Channel 4.

Personal life

Edwards, with his wife Belinda, runs Entreprix Ltd., a "motorsports specialist" company. Founded in 1987, the company has managed numerous motorsport championships, the most recent being the

British GT Championship The British GT Championship is a sports car racing series based predominantly in the United Kingdom. The series was originally created by the British Racing Drivers' Club in 1993 and, for its first two seasons, was known as the National Sports G ...

from 2003 to 2005. He currently resides in Wortham, Suffolk.

Racing record

Complete British Saloon Car Championship results

( key) (Races in bold indicate pole position – 1980–1990 in class) (Races in ''italics'' indicate fastest lap – 1 point awarded ?–1989 in class)

References

External links

Biography of Ben Edwards on Entreprix's website

Ben Edwards commentates the final laps of the 2000 Michigan 500 on YouTube
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Edwards, Ben 1965 births Motorsport announcers Living people British Touring Car Championship drivers BBC sports presenters and reporters English racing drivers 20th-century English sportsmen