The BBC have today announced that Martin Brundle and David Coulthard will provide the commentary for their Formula 1 television coverage.
Brundle will step-up to lead commentary team, replacing Jonathan Legard, who has been lead commentator for the last two seasons.
Brundle, who was co-commentator alongside James Allen at ITV and joined the BBC alongside Legard when the broadcaster won the rights to sport in 2009, told the BBC website that he was ‘absolutely delighted and very motivated’ by his new role alongside Coulthard.
BBC head of F1 Ben Gallop justified the move to ditch Legard and promote Brundle:
“We’re always looking for ways to take our F1 coverage to another level – and for 2011 we have an exciting new combination in the commentary box.
“We’re keen to make the most of Martin Brundle’s wealth of broadcasting experience and his popularity with the audience by giving him the role of lead commentator and putting him alongside David Coulthard, one of the biggest names in British motorsport and a skilled race analyst.
“We want to tap into their combined on-track expertise – together they will provide our viewers with more immediate discussion, analysis and debate as the action happens.”
Referring to Legard, Gallop added: “We’d like to take this opportunity to thank Jonathan for his great work over the last two seasons. He is a first-rate journalist and broadcaster who has been a core member of our team, helping to re-establish BBC Sport as the nation’s F1 broadcaster. We wish him all the very best for the future.”
Tweeting to his twitter followers this morning, Legard was philosophical about being dropped: “Life moves on. Ask Nick Heidfeld or [Narain Karthikeyan]. You never know what’s next. to the critical and the complimentary, thanks for the company”
BBC F1 presenter Jake Humphrey is expected to blog about the commentary changes on the BBC F1 website in the near future.