Who is Melissa Jimenez? Everything to know about the Spanish F1 reporter

Melissa Jimenez is a journalist who covers F1 for DAZN. She is the daughter of Antonio Jimenez, who is the chief engineer of the Aprilia motorcycling team.

Jimenez worked for many channels such as 25TV and Sky Italia where she covered news in the world of motorbikes during the initial days of her career in the media.

With Telecinco, she relocated to Spain and took Lara Alvarez's place as a correspondent covering the MotoGP paddock. She left the programme after two years. In 2022, she went back to the tracks to cover Formula 1 for DAZN.

Melissa Jimenez was married to the footballer Marc Bartra. They fell apart at the end of 2021. She has three children with Marc.

With a degree in communication, Melissa can also speak languages like English, French, Italian, Catalan, and Spanish fluently.

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Melissa Jimenez's father Antonio Jimenez is a part of the racing fraternity

Melissa Jimenez's father Antonio Jimenez was a popular MotoGP race driver in his time. Antonio made a comeback to the MotoGP paddock around 2019. He is the technical chief of Aleix Espargaró's motorbikes.

When asked about how he felt about his return to the paddock, Antonio said:

"I have developed part of my career at MotoGP, from the prototype in 2000 with Yamaha Factory, then with Gresini for the past nine years until 2014, with Bautista at Honda."

"Then they went to Aprilia and I had to do Moto2 because I did not find anything in MotoGP in a competent team or that motivated me," he added. "And we achieved good results! But after four years at Moto2, I am very happy to return to MotoGP, certainly in a challenge that is not easy with Aprilia, but that is very motivating.”

Cut to the present, Antonio Jimenez is still shouldering Aprilia Racing Team, which has been going through a rough patch since December 2022. Aleix Espargaro endured a difficult final stretch of the 2022 MotoGP season, which saw him lose not only the championship but also the top three finishes.

The worst performance by Aleix that frustrated Antonio was in the 2022 Malaysia GP, where he performed below expectations. He had to retire from the race in the first few laps in Valencia.

In particular, the Malaysian GP was frustrating for Espargaro's garage, as Antonio Jimenez told the YouTube channel PecinoGP:

"The frustrating race for us, from start to finish, was Malaysia. The one in Valencia was a problem, the bike stopped for a problem that can happen to anyone. Valentino [Rossi] lost a World Championship in Valencia in the last race because he jumped a piece of the front tyre."

"The Malaysian race was the frustrating one and the one where we lost a lot, because in February we were very fast," he added. "But when you go to a MotoGP test there are only MotoGP riders riding and the track, when there are 25 riders riding, has a lot of Michelin rubber and has a very good grip. But it's been nine months, everybody has evolved and we have developed less than the others."