Russian journalist and TV commentator. Best known as a commentator on Formula 1 races.
Alexey Popov was born in Moscow in July 1974. Thanks to a coincidence, he managed to very quickly meet his true vocation, which became a passion, hobby, love and work. Since motorsport was not popular in the USSR, there was no information about the events taking place in it.
Parents are ordinary university teachers. But this did not stop the young boy from creating his own group with friends. The fame was short-lived. It ended after the first concert, when the director heard what the guys were singing about.
In 1991, Alexey entered the Moscow Pedagogical Institute as a sociologist and studied there for only six months. A month before the start of classes, he bought the Sport-Express newspaper, with an article on racing. He liked the publication as a whole, but the article did not reflect the essence of the events. And Popov by that time knew quite a lot about F-1: he managed to visit his grandfather who worked abroad more than once. at the trade mission of the Soviet Union in Belgium. In 1988, Aleksey Popov saw the first Formula 1 race in his life. Despite the fact that he was not at the stadium, but just watched the television broadcast, this was enough to find his true love for life. \
Alexey noticed many shortcomings in the article and told the author about them, who was the first deputy editor-in-chief. He, in turn, instructed the brave guy to write an article about the Grand Prix in Belgium and the next day he was hired into the state.
Alexey Popov is a well-known TV commentator and journalist. It is difficult to find a person who knows more about the world of auto racing than he does. A whole era of motorsport in Russia is associated with it, since the beginning of Aleksey's career coincided with the appearance on the screens of our country of the royal races of the Formula 1 series.
Alexei Popov is recognized by his catchphrase: "The Russian voice of Formula 1". He heard a similar presentation from an American journalist who also started the program.
The Russian liked it. And now for more than a quarter of a century Alexei has not been called otherwise: when you say "Formula 1", you mean "Popov", and vice versa.
Career
At the Olympics in Albertville, the management of the RTR TV channel met the head of the Monegasque company Samipa. When Russia received the rights to broadcast the races, the question of who would comment was no longer a question. Subsequently, Popov moved to Monaco to travel freely around the world and report directly from the competition venues.
In 2001 Alexey was awarded the title of the best sports commentator. In 2005, the journalist began to release the author's program "Grand Prix with Alexei Popov", first on "Russia-2" (formerly "Sport"), then on REN-TV.
"Formula 1" in the view of Alexei is a single organism, it has roots, past and future. For 10 years, spent in Monaco, Popov did not do anything except motorsport. This was his life.
But, suddenly Alexei remembered that as a child he loved biathlon and was a fan of hockey. As you know, there is no hockey in Monaco, so rugby played its role. In addition, this is "the sport of real men, like racing, only" Formula "is associated with death." Therefore, Popov undertook to comment on the competition of shooting skiers and the game with an oval ball.
It was on the initiative of Alexei that the matches of the Rugby World Cup were broadcast on Russian TV. The final tournament, which was attended by the commentator, caused much more emotion than the biathlon race at the Vancouver Olympics. Popov compared it to the first exciting days on the Formula tracks, when the young journalist was entrusted with interviewing Alain Prost, Jean Alesi and Ayrton Senna.
In 2012, Aleksey Popov became the voice of not only the world Grand Prix series, but also the Formula Russia races.
Personal life
Little is known about the personal life of the popular commentator. He was married 2 times. In the first marriage, with a French woman, two children were born, in the second - he was married to a Russian girl, another son.
Alexey opened accounts on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter. On the latest social network, a fan helped him. Registered on his behalf and set up auto-publishing. When the number of subscribers exceeded 10 thousand people, he handed over the reins of government to its owner, i.e. Alexei.
Being a "man from TV", Popov does not watch "box", with the exception of sports channels.
Alexey Popov now
In the spring of 2018, a sports commentator presented his second literary work - the book “Formula-1. Russian voice . The first is called Formula 1.
From the very first lines, Aleksey explained that he was not claiming the laurels of a serious writer, since this was not even a book, but a transcription of dictaphone recordings of conversations with a journalist friend. In terms of content, a mixture of biographical facts came out with memories of pilots, races, travels, meetings with people, to one degree or another, involved in a dangerous and fascinating sport.
The reaction to Popov's book turned out to be contradictory. Readers unfamiliar with the behind-the-scenes life of "car stables" were interested in getting to know Gilles Villeneuve or Riccardo Patrese from a previously unknown side, to see how Damon Hill's accident allowed Michael Schumacher to win another world title, to plunge into the technical details of car preparation.
However, professionals and just people who are passionate about Formula 1 have found a lot of blunders and inconsistencies. And it's not only about the mistakes of the editorial staff, but also about the distortion of facts.
