Martin Brundle on stepping into the lead role

Thanks to the legend that is Murray Walker, taking on the role of the BBC lead commentator in Formula 1 has been, in some senses, a bit of a poisoned chalice.

Walker did such an amazing job, and was such a hit with fans and those who worked in the sport, that it was (and remains) nigh-on impossible for anyone to follow in his footsteps without being compared to the man who was the 'voice of motorsport'.

Post-Walker, F1 fans have had spells with James Allen and Jonathan Legard at the helm, and it is now Martin Brundle's turn to take on that lead microphone.

It is a big job: and one that puts its occupant into the spotlight for what will, inevitably, be a heady mix of both huge praise and abject criticism. Amazingly, even before he has uttered his first word on the BBC in his new role, that sniping has already started - with some suggesting the decision to have two drivers in the commentary box, with Brundle alongside David Coulthard, is a mistake.

With all that in the background, you could forgive Brundle for being tentative about the challenge he is taking on - in what is the start of a new chapter of his broadcasting career.

Yet all Brundle feels at the moment is excitement, and a genuine eagerness to get on with it so he can show the world just what great things his partnership with Coulthard will produce.

"I was actually slightly reluctant about it in the beginning," Brundle tells AUTOSPORT about his new role. "Nobody was asking me to stop the job I was doing before, and people seemed to enjoy what I was doing. But here was an opportunity and a change.

Brundle, Humphrey, Coulthard and Jordan talk to Sebastian Vettel © Sutton

"Now I have agreed to do it, I feel really motivated by it. It is making me think - it is a different job and therefore I have got to do it differently. Where I am hovering up information now, my software has already changed to how that would relate to a colour situation - because I can let David do the colour stuff now.

"But equally, I am not going to pretend I don't know the stuff, because clearly I still expect to drive an F1 car again this year, in testing and do some filming. So there will be two of us up there who have first-hand knowledge."

Brundle has learned a lot during the 14 years he has worked in broadcasting. The hundreds of races alongside Walker, Allen and Legard have provided him with expert insight into the rights and wrongs of speaking to the nation - and he thinks he has a pretty good grasp of what those tuning it at home want.

"The one thing I have learned in the 14 years I've done it is that the fans do want information. They want to know what is going on. They are very informed - people take their sport's commentary very seriously because they take their sports very seriously. They are giving some of their free time, valuable and hard earned free time on a Sunday, to watch this.

"And remember that we speak to tens of millions of people around the world. It is not just the BBC audience. We broadcast to most English-speaking zones in the world, so we have to give something to everybody.

"I said to DC [Coulthard] the other day, 'if you imagine you're talking to tens of millions of people then your tongue goes dry and it feels quite nervy'. So you don't.

"I imagine I am speaking to my co-commentator and one family that has invited us into their front room via their television. And in that family is one absolute petrol head, somebody else who is interested, somebody who enjoys the pre-show and the magazine style stuff, and somebody who is watching it because it is raining outside. And you have got to give them all something - some little magpie pieces, something shiny that they take away and remember."

Brundle and Coulthard trackside at Suzuka © LAT

Brundle is aware of the criticism that surfaced within minutes of him being confirmed in his new role, but he doesn't buy any of the arguments dished out so far.

"I know there are these views that 'oh, it's two racing drivers'. Well, I am not really a racing driver now," he says. "I am a broadcaster. That is what I do. I've been beside three guys in the commentary box and I have the utmost respect for all three of them - Murray Walker, James Allen and Jonathan Legard. I learned a lot from each of them.

"With Jonathan, I did not have a personality clash. That is complete and utter nonsense. He is a very nice guy. We got on well, but the BBC decided that they were going to make a change, so that is that.

"I have also read somewhere that I am controlling BBC Sport - but I work for them, they don't work me."

And what about the inevitable argument that will likely be put forward by some quarters over the year - that F1 coverage is still not as good as it was with Murray Walker in charge? Brundle smiles.

"You have to be careful on some of the web forums, because my experience of meeting a vast amount of people - at race tracks, airports and shows like the AUTOSPORT show - do not tally with some of the stuff that appears online. And it buried James Allen, didn't it? He was a fine broadcaster and they absolutely buried him.

"The mould was broken when Murray Walker was born. There will never be another Murray Walker, so everyone should stop searching. He is absolutely unique - and we will come at it from a different direction. I've established myself as an F1 broadcaster, and I also write 60,000 words a year for the BBC, the Sunday Times, the BRDC and that sort of thing.

"So, I will be Martin Brundle talking to David Coulthard. There is no point trying to be bits of Murray Walker. I am not interested in doing it - let alone the fact I couldn't do it."

Jake Humphrey and Martin Brundle © LAT

One of Brundle's biggest fans within the BBC is F1 show presenter Jake Humphrey, who himself has earned huge praise for the job he has done since he was drafted in at the start of 2009.

Humphrey can see no negatives from the Brundle/Coulthard tie-up - and can speak with some authority on the matter because he is one of the few who has heard the screen test the pair has done.

"I have heard the tape they've done and I genuinely thought it was brilliant," explains Humphrey. "I thought it was fantastic commentary. There was no rehearsal, no timing screens or any of that information. And it felt to me like a natural partnership.

"I don't think we should kid ourselves that it's an easy job in any way, shape or form. I have always said I would not want to be doing that job. I think it is the most difficult job on our entire programme.

"There is no question about it - Martin has to approach it differently. He cannot be offering the drivers' perspective; he has to be offering the commentators' perspective. It's David who will be offering the drivers' perspective and it is very important that we make sure the roles are defined so we don't confuse the audience.

"David is now the driver expert, he is the one who has driven the contemporary F1 cars, he has driven against the current F1 drivers and he can frankly offer an insight that Martin cannot."

Humphrey believes Brundle should not be classified as an ex-driver in the commentary box, because his vast experience of broadcasting has made him more qualified for the role than many other journalists.

"I always look at these thing from a fans' perspective and I think if I was an F1 fan tuning in for the new season, I would think, 'hold on, we've got Martin Brundle who has been in the commentary box alongside Murray, Jonathan and James, and has picked up what they have learned, alongside the most successful recently retired British driver'.

© LAT

"Some people have said, 'you will have no journalists up in the commentary box', but I think personally that is totally incorrect. How is a degree in journalism worth more than 15 years of doing the job? I think there is no-one better qualified in this country than Martin to be sitting there alongside David. He has been great for me and I look forward to hearing him.

"I am a bit disappointed on a purely selfish level because during the races I love sitting with David and listening to his insights - it is fantastic to hear his comments about the racing. I almost did not register the fact that if I loved it and found that fascinating then it would be great to share that with the audience."

Brundle thinks the partnership with Coulthard will be great too - and says that although they are good friends and have been business partners, they still have enough differences of opinions over F1 matters to make the commentary interesting.

"Sometimes I will be cruising along in a rental car to the circuit, and DC and I will be debating something. There are a number of times when we have done that and I have said, 'this is what we should be talking about on television'. There are times over dinner when it is like that too.

"My understanding is that people want a bit of warmth coming through. If you have two people on a breakfast news couch who get on well, then people prefer that to friction. I used this expression earlier on about being invited in to homes - they invite you into homes, so they don't want you to be at each other's throats. They want genuine warmth, without it being fabricated and too 'Smashie and Nicey'.

The Button/Alonso clash at Melbourne © LAT

"We've got our own views and we will disagree. One of the first things that happened in the screen test was that we disagreed. It was the Australian Grand Prix and we disagreed over whose fault it was when Jenson [Button] and Fernando [Alonso] got together at the first corner and clouted Michael [Schumacher] at the same time. We completely disagreed on whose fault it was and there was nothing wrong with that."

Brundle's enthusiasm about the year ahead is mirrored by Humphrey, who thinks the arrival of high definition and the staffing reshuffle will be great for its F1 coverage. And that's something that can only be good news for fans.

Humphrey says: "We've done two years now. We came on board and we had our first year - the year with no adverts. Then we had our second year and learned from the mistakes we made in our first year, and tried to make them better - and in both years we were massively blessed with great racing.

"But I said to the production team at the end of last year: we need to make a real show for 2011 on the BBC, we need to really up the ante a lot more and do something very spectacular.

"So if I was looking down the line-up - you've got two drivers with 700 races of experience either driving or attending them; you have a guy who has been in a commentary box for 15 years; Martin is going to be invigorated to be the lead commentator and David is going to be re-invigorated as he often says to me he gets frustrated that he doesn't have the time to get into things, whereas now he is going to have two hours to do that.

"Eddie [Jordan] is going to have to take on more responsibility as when David leaves he is going to have to provide the drivers' views, the team bosses' view and be our prime pundit - which is a big role for him and he is dead excited about that. And I am going to have to work differently. I think we are going to have a really solid team. 2011 should be a vintage year for F1 on the BBC."

But Brundle has one important message to get out there. That despite the excitement about his role, the high hopes that the new line-up will produce great entertainment and that 2011 will be brilliant for fans, he is adamant that too much focus should not be put on what the BBC is doing.

"It is not about us - it is about F1, and us telling the F1 story in an informative and entertaining way. We must never get that the wrong way around."

F1 fans have a lot to look forward to in 2011.

What the changes mean for Brundle's gridwalk

By Dieter Rencken

© Sutton

One of the first things being asked when Martin Brundle was promoted to the BBC main commentary role was about what would happen to his trademark grid walks.

The good news for fans of his tours is that they will remain in 2010 - although they will not take place at every race. AUTOSPORT caught up with BBC F1 editor Mark Wilkin to discuss the changes - and the grid walk.

Q. Can you explain to us the thinking behind the changes you've made to the commentary team for 2011?

Mark Wilkin: I think in the end we felt we were missing a trick, really, with DC on our team and not able to talk in real time as the race was evolving to the viewers. He'd talk to me and he'd talk to Jake during the course of the race, and it's stuff I felt was fascinating, was very interesting. It was, if you like, a new insight into the way the race was unfolding, with tactics, what teams should do, what might happen next, all that stuff.

So we felt it was an opportunity to get DC into the commentary box. Now, as soon as you do that, you then have a 'what do you do with Martin, how do you deal with that?', and it was felt that with Martin's 14 years of experience sitting in the commentary box, he knew the job of commentating as opposed to being the summariser.

So we offered him the job of commentating, and he's very excited by that. It is a change of role for him, he will have to learn different skills, but he's very up for that and he's very keen to be working alongside DC.

Q: Martin used to do the grid walkabouts. Will that still happen, but in a condensed form, an abbreviated form?

MW: The biggest problem is getting from the grid to the commentary box. Now, he leaves the grid at about 46 minutes past the hour. But he needs to be commentating at 55. So there's a clear nine minutes that he's got to get from one place to another.

Now, he doesn't want to be walking in and going straight on air, having climbed five stories of stairs, so we'll work it out at each of the races - how long is he going to take realistically? What sort of margin of error are we going to have? Is he going to be out of breath when he gets there?

There are some races, like China, where he almost certainly won't do it, because it's just too far. And we'll have a different solution for that. I'm not sure exactly what that solution will be yet, but we'll have a different solution.

At plenty of races he can either hop straight over the fence or go through the marshals' gate, or whatever it is, and be in the commentary box within a minute of finishing on the grid. So for those ones he'll continue.

Q. During non-broadcast race times, or qualifying times, DC will still be doing part of the 'DC and Eddie' show. And then Eddie will take over when DC's otherwise occupied. So do you see Eddie ready to expand his role?

MW: Yes. I think that Eddie has a fascinating insight into Formula 1 from the experience he had as a team owner, and he's employed half the drivers on the grid. You forget that an awful lot of them have been through the Jordan

Eddie Jordan © LAT

MW: And usually he's sold them on, and all that sort of stuff, he does! He knows Formula 1 in a way that most can and never will. The number of people he knows, the way the thing works, is fascinating.

The changes give him an opportunity to do more features, and also to be with Jake at those crucial times just before and just after the race. And he has an absolute knack, a complete understanding, of what the public mood is.

Take Germany last year - he didn't wait to jump on any bandwagon, he started the bandwagon. He was the one who said 'this is a disgrace'. And people then go into the press conference and say 'Eddie Jordan says this', 'Eddie Jordan says that'. He's an agenda setter in that sense.

Q. To summarise the new studio line-up, effectively what's happened is you've lost one head, but you've redeployed everybody. So you've plugged all the gaps that could have arisen in that respect.

MW: Yes. The global financial crisis is affecting the BBC as much as everybody else, and the financial constraints are such that it was welcome news when I suggested we might be losing one on the headcount. It's a fortuitous by-product of what we're doing, as it turns out.

I think it's important that we always look at everything we're doing and make sure that we are cost-effective, that we are getting best value out of the run that we have. And I think this is a very good way to go forwards editorially, and I think there are some other benefits as well.