‘There still isn’t a day that goes by where I don’t think about him’
Formula 1’s Steve Jones speaks to Sam Cook about how love and loss have inspired his debut novel...
out of it, but it’s part of the process and I accept it.”
Steve added that he is hopeful to write future novels after Call Time, but it all depends on the “British public”.
He explained: “I know that me and Penguin [the publishers] have a really good relationship. I’ve already written a second book on a completely different subject, which they’ve bought, so that’s in the pipeline. They’re backing me as someone who can hopefully have a long career in writing.
“I’d certainly like to continue to write. It’s something I feel that I have to do and every time I finish a book, I think that I should have some time to relax, but I just go, ‘No, I can’t do it.’ It’s become part of who I am and I need to do it, but it all depends if Penguin will allow me to continue.”
Steve even said that his role as presenter of Channel 4’s Formula 1 coverage, which he has done since 2016, has been a “gift” when it comes to writing.
“When I’m in the Formula 1 bubble I’m 100% invested in that, but there’s so much time around it. There are long-haul flights and lonely hotel rooms where I’m just sitting, staring at the wall and I’ve used that time over the last X amount of years when I’m flying or in those hotel rooms.”
The Call Time writer then delved into how he became a presenter, describing how at the time he “didn’t even register” what the role of a presenter was.
“I was so into sports, reading and films that I never really watched much TV that was presenterled. If I did, it didn’t really register what people did and it was just something that happened on TV.
“I think it was the early 2000s and I’d been travelling. I did the usual backpacking thing and picked up a bit of modelling en route. I came back to London and thought that I could be a model there, but obviously that was difficult because there are far more better-looking people than me, so that didn’t really work out.
“I went back home to Wales and a friend of mine rang me out of the blue because he heard that I was back in town and he said, ‘Have you heard there’s a job going locally on a music show called The Pop Factory Awards?’ I asked him why he was telling me and he replied, ‘I know you like your music, you’re kind of funny, why don’t you go for it?’
“I did the audition and I think it was that same afternoon that I got a phone call saying that they’d like me to present the show. Two weeks later I was on TV and, even then, I thought that it was a bit of fun and it wasn’t going to go anywhere.
“As the show continued and I realised that there was more to it than just standing with a microphone, I really got into it and I wondered how far I could take it. I went to London and things snowballed from there.”
After his stint on ITV Wales series The Pop
Factory Awards, Steve would land a role hosting T4 between 2003-2010. He said that it was here that he felt comfortable in his craft.
“By the time I got to T4, I knew what I was doing and the presenter I wanted to be. What I didn’t have was the skillset for live TV, so that’s where I learned how to be a live TV specialist.
“I think it’s such a shame that T4 has gone because every single presenter who presented there has gone on to have a career. Live TV is where it’s at and that’s where you become a very good presenter.”
In 2011, Steve landed the coveted role of presenter of The X Factor USA. He would present the series during its first season.
“The carrot was dangled in front of me for about two years [with The X Factor USA] and I turned down so much work in the hope that I’d get that job. It paid off at first and I got the job everybody wanted.
“I’m chuffed to have been part of it, but when you’re going home at the end of the day and you’ve made a 14-year-old girl cry, you don’t look in the mirror and go, ‘Good job, Steve!’ Everybody knows what they were getting involved with, but I wouldn’t say that was a highlight of my career.
Steve cited his role presenting Formula 1 as the actual “highlight” of his career. He said: “I never thought that I’d be part of sport. When the opportunity came to me, I thought that it was different and a proper, proper opportunity.
“It’s not like TV where you do a show, people will like it and then, a season later, people are over it and they’re axed. That’s the life of a presenter, unless you’re Ant and Dec! Shows end, but with sports, it’s not quite the case.
“I’ve had eight years out of this sport and it’s been incredible. I’ve travelled around the world and I love being part of something that people are so passionate about. It’s an honour and an absolute privilege.”
He then described how upon finding out that he’d be presenting Formula 1, some people “hated” the idea.
“I made the mistake of saying early on, ‘F1 is basically Hollyoaks on wheels isn’t it?’ People didn’t like that but, ironically, that’s what it has become and it’s all entertainment and neverending drama now. It’s exhausting in the best possible way, but I’m standing on the shoulders of giants and I’m honoured to be part of it.”
Steve recalled how, during the 2021 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, he was reduced to tears after watching Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen battle it out for the championship.
“I was watching it from a portable cabin in Abu Dhabi and we were all gathering around the monitors, losing our minds,” he said. “I had to step out of the cabin because I was in tears. I don’t like people seeing me cry, but I just thought, ‘Oh my
God, I can’t believe what I just saw.’
“I was just overwhelmed by the moment and I couldn’t believe what I’d just seen. I’d never felt that way about anything I’d seen on TV before… it was the power of sport.”
Discussing the current season of Formula 1, Steve added: “I don’t care who wins the championship, I just want to watch wheel-towheel racing. It’s a bit of a shame that Red Bull are running away with it, but Max Verstappen is an extraordinary driver. Sergio Perez is a brilliant driver, but not an extraordinary driver, which is why he has no chance of beating Max this season – he decimated him in Miami.
“I do sometimes think, ‘Why does it have to be utter dominance at the front?’ It’s a little bit discouraging, but there are still moments of brilliance to be had, but it’s a shame that it’s not shaping out to be the competition that I was hoping for.”
Steve, who admitted that Tokyo is his “favourite city on Earth”, then talked about how being away from home can be tough. He and American wife Phylicia Jackson-jones married in 2014 and live together in Berkshire.
“I spend more time with my crew than I do with my own family. I love my wife’s company above anything else, but she does come with me a lot. There’s an element that absence makes the heart grow stronger, though. The longest I tend to be away for is about a week and a half.”
He added that he and Phylicia come back to Wales “all the time”.
“I’ve got a little place in the Valleys and my family still live in the Rhondda. I love it and I’m still friends with all my old schoolfriends – they’re the funniest people I know. I bust a rib being around those guys.”
■ Steve’s debut novel Call Time is now available from all good retailers. Listen to the In The Spotlight series at www.walesonline.co.uk