Martin Brundle & David Coulthard For 2009 BBC F1 Team?

Martin Brundle & David Coulthard For 2009 BBC F1 Team?

Pitpass are reporting very early this Monday morning that Martin Brundle and David Coulthard will form a pivotal role in the commentating team for the 2009 BBC Formula One team. The rumours have been flying around the Internet ever since it was announced that ITV gave up their contract and the BBC would regain the sport’s broadcasting rights from 2009 onwards, and David Coulthard has been tipped for a role for a long time, only heightened after his retirement announcement.

It is suggested that the broadcasting team will consist of award-winning ex-Formula One driver Martin Brundle, David Coulthard, Lee McKenzie Jonathan Legard and Jake Humphrey. Lee McKenzie is the daughter of F1 journalist Bob McKenzie and has been working on the A1GP series. Humphrey is a young presenter who has enjoyed time on Match Of The Day and other Football related shows.

Pitpass reckon McKenzie will take over from Ted Kravitz in the pits, while Legard will join Brundle in the commentary box. Perhaps the strangest part of all this is that Coulthard might be based at a London studio with Humphrey. However, as correctly pointed out by Pitpass, Coulthard might be better used in the paddock, getting close to his former rivals and allowing his occasional sense of humour to shine for the camera.

Of course, this news is completely unconfirmed and it is understood that David Coulthard hasn’t signed anything yet, but it does look like a good team. It is about time the presenting team got a shake-up, but the news that Brundle will stay on is definitely good. Bernie Ecclestone recently hinted on a grid-walk that Brundle maybe moving to the BBC (although Bernie was quite cryptic), and the BBC will do well in keeping Coulthard’s manager and former team mate to Michael Schumacher.

One final thought is that David Coulthard is also expected to take up a consultancy role for Red Bull Racing, which in my mind suggested he may be at some of the grands prix. If the Scot is to be based in London then this clearly won’t happen. However, rumour is just rumour, so let’s wait to see what the British institution have to say themselves, hopefully very soon.

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16 comments

  • Must admit I thought it strange that DC would be based in London for the grand prix – just assumed he would be required at the track for his Red Bull duties.

    I do think it’s a good idea to have the presenters in a studio rather than shouting to make themselves heard over the noise of engines in the pitlane, but didn’t reckon on that studio being miles away!

    Nothing confirmed yet though, so it may all change.

  • DC being DC would have access to areas and people that Lee McKenzie would not. She has to start building relationships in F1 whereas DC knows everyone and to use Jackie Stewart’s point about why he can get access to anyone in Ford when a lot of the big shots in F1 came into the sport DC was a famous driver while they were unknowns.

  • DC would have access to areas and people that Lee McKenzie would not.

    I agree. Louise Goodman can pretty much get a soundbite from any driver just after they’ve retired from a race (when they’re at their lowest) because she has spent a long time in the sport (with Williams or Jordan, I think) and she knows the team personnel well. McKenzie, as you say, will have to spend the best part of a season developing the trust and understanding of these people before we get any real interviews pre-race or post-retirement.

  • Louise was, of course, the first woman to ever take part in a real live pitstop.

    She removed the left rear tyre for Tiago Monteiro at the 2006 British Grand Prix.

  • Louise was at Jordan

    I think you’re right, because at the time, Jordan was quite the marketing machine and I believe Goodman was involved. But I also have an inkling of her being involved somehow with Williams and Damon Hill. I have a vague recollection of Goodman wearing a Rothman-Williams shirt and recording Hill over his shoulder as he spoke to the press. I’m probably crackers though, so don’t listen to me!

    her husband worked for Minardi until he died a few years ago

    I never knew that. That’s sad, but it makes me wonder how an Italian-based team member managed a marriage with a British-based team member! Wow! I know Minardi were more Anglo-Italian than Ferrari, but even so…

    she caught most of the drivers on their way up in the sport

    Precisely. That’s why I feel the broadcasting team should be more ex-F1 than new-F1. And less British-biased, but that’s another story for another day…

  • it makes me wonder how an Italian-based team member managed a marriage with a British-based team member

    I really hadn’t ever thought about that. I’d been carrying around that nugget for a while but not really thought about what it meant.

  • She was married to (or maybe not actually married) John Walton who I think was Irish and originally with Jordan. The first I knew of their relationship was when he died 3 or 4 years ago.

  • Louise Goodman was Jordan’s first PR officer – she joined the team in 1993 and left at the end of 1996 to join ITV. It was during this time that she met and became partners with John Walton, who was chief mechanic back then. John went to Tyrrell/Prost, Arrows and Minardi after that.

    I’m not quite sure where the Williams connection fits in – Louise was working for Jardine’s PR company immediately before Jordan. The Williams interview is an interesting nugget of information if true,

  • I’m not quite sure where the Williams connection fits in

    I think my mind is playing tricks. It could have been Louise interviewing Hill on the grid/paddock prior to a race in ’97, ’98 or ’99. The more I look at the information, the more I think she didn’t work at Williams now. I’m obviously going senile! 🙂

  • The only thing I can think is that you are thinking of Ann Bradshaw who used to be Williams press officer.

  • Think its great that Martin is at the BBC and Coulthard too, think Jake is a bad move though as hes just irritating and hardly knows anything about F1.

    Plus the idea of a London studio is ridiculous, since ITV did away with studios the atmosphere has been much better, even thought Steve is boring and Blundell gets fatter with every race…!

  • David shouldn’t retire from driving altogether. He is still young and can get the job done. I had hoped, if it is true that he will go to broadcasting, that he would look at the sports car series. Selfishly, I wished that someone in the ALMS series would be able to woo him to the US.

    Or, perhaps Steve Windsor could have some how managed to get DC to work for SPEED. 🙂

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