Brundle: Coulthard tie-up will be a hit
Martin Brundle thinks his BBC commentary box tie-up with David Coulthard this year will prove to be a huge success - despite scepticism in some quarters about having two former drivers working alongside each other.
Martin Brundle thinks his BBC commentary box tie-up with David Coulthard this year will prove to be a huge success - despite scepticism in some quarters about having two former drivers working alongside each other.
The BBC announced earlier this week that Brundle was being promoted to the lead commentator's role in 2011, with Coulthard slotting in alongside him to help provide expert analysis.
That move has led some to question whether having two drivers is the best policy for the BBC - while some have suggested that the new role will be too much for Brundle to take onboard.
Brundle himself is convinced, however, that he will have no problems in adapting to the new position - and is equally sure that Coulthard will really thrive alongside him.
"I read somewhere, this ridiculous article, that it would be an unimaginable strain," Brundle said on stage at the AUTOSPORT International Show.
"For me, an unimaginable strain is fighting in Afghanistan or bringing up a child in the middle of Africa - that is what means to me - not chatting to a few mates on the grid and then going and watching a sport I love from the TV commentary box. I have the best job in the world."
Brundle confirmed that his trademark grid walks would continue in 2011, but they would not take place at every race.
"I will do half the grid walks or something, and I am ready to change on that. I have done it for 14 years and there are only so many ways that you can run up and down 24 cars and a safety car and keep coming up with fresh material. It is not actually in my nature to go barging in and being rude in other people's interviews!
"99 out of 100 people who come up to me anywhere in the world say they love the grid walk. It has become my signature, so of course I will do it. There are some tracks where the geography from the grid to the commentary box [is quite hard]. Sometimes we have to walk a bit then we have to take a scooter through a tunnel, somebody is waiting at the bottom of a lift, we press a button I go up nine floors, and I get in the commentary box just before the race starts. I am happy to give up a few grids. At ITV I used to do two out of three, which is about right frankly."
Speaking about his new partnership with Coulthard, Brundle said: "I have got David coming up and between us we have started over 400 grands prix, and attended over 700.
"We know our sport, and we have got to entertain. We have to inform and I know we will be comfortable...I am very good mates with DC and we haven't seen the best of DC yet by a long way. That ping pong match is not his forte, he will still be doing that but that is not his best work.
"DC has got such a knowledge of F1 and such banter to go with it, that I am confident he will have plenty to say about a race. I can do the shouty bits when I have to, and yes it is a different job so I will do it differently - but I won't pretend I won't know what I am talking about.
"I won't give him gormless questions like, 'oh that right rear tyre looks a bit odd doesn't it David'. We'll discuss it among ourselves. We will agree, disagree, we will throw to the pit lane and we will tell the story of F1."
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