The BBC's line-up for 2012 Read Ben Gallop's blog about coverage plans for next season. DAVID COULTHARD David Coulthard joined the BBC as an F1 pundit in 2009 after a 16-year career as a Grand Prix driver in which he won 13 races and finished a best of second in the world championship to Michael Schumacher in 2001. He continues as a pundit for a fourth year in 2012 after a successful move into the commentary box as co-commentator and analyst. The Scot began his F1 career at Williams following the death of Ayrton Senna in 1994 and moved to McLaren in 1996 - the start of a 10-year spell that made him the longest serving driver in the team's history. After leaving McLaren at the end of 2004, he joined Red Bull, scoring the team's first podium at Monaco in 2006. Coulthard scored 535 points in his F1 career - putting him, at the start of the 2009 season, fifth on the all-time list behind Michael Schumacher, Alain Prost, Ayrton Senna and Fernando Alonso. EDDIE JORDAN Eddie Jordan ran the Jordan F1 team from 1991 until selling it in 2004. In that time, he established a reputation as one of the sport's most maverick senior figures, with as many connections in the world of entertainment as in F1. He joined the BBC as a pundit in 2009 and took on a new role as chief analyst in 2011. Jordan was a racing driver in Formula Atlantic and Formula Three in the 1970s, before setting up his own teams first in F3, then Formula 3000 and finally F1. He famously gave Michael Schumacher his F1 debut in 1991, before he was poached by Benetton, and the team's most successful period in a roller-coaster career was 1998-99. Damon Hill gave Jordan their first victory in Belgium in 1998, before German Heinz-Harald Frentzen won two races and mounted an unlikely - and ultimately unsuccessful - title challenge in 1999. Despite being renowned for his wheeler-dealing, Jordan faced an increasingly difficult struggle to survive as major car manufacturers came to dominate F1 in the early years of the 21st Century, and eventually sold his team to the Midland Group in 2004. After a succession of owners, it is now racing in the guise of Force India. JAKE HUMPHREY Jake will be the main presenter for the BBC's F1 coverage for a fourth year in 2012. He has worked for the BBC since 2001, starting out at CBBC before moving into sport. He has covered the 2008 Beijing Olympics, Euro 2008, the 2007 Fifa Women's World Cup, the 2010 Commonwealth Games, fronted the BBC's American football coverage and was the BBC's host for the 2008 Africa Cup of Nations. Jake has also been a co-host of Sports Personality of the Year shows for the last three years and has also presented Match of the Day, Football Focus and Final Score. He started his career at Anglia Television, before hosting the live daily sports show TWI and then moving on to Children's BBC. Read Jake's blogs BEN EDWARDS Ben Edwards, the BBC's lead F1 commentator, has a wealth of motorsport experience, having commentated on F1 for Eurosport and the former F1 Digital channel. He has also commentated for Sky on A1 Grand Prix, for Eurosport and ESPN on the US-based Champ Car series and most recently on the British Touring Car Championship and Superleague on ITV. LEE McKENZIE Lee has covered most sports, specialising in motor racing and rugby, in a career that has spanned both journalism and broadcasting. She has worked for the BBC, ITV and Sky Sports, also competing as a co-driver in the World Rally Championship.



GARY ANDERSON Gary Anderson is the BBC F1 team's technical analyst. He had a 13-year career as an F1 technical director, starting with Jordan in 1991 before moving on to the Stewart and Jaguar teams, plus a second spell with Jordan. He started his motorsport career in the 1970s, graduating to become Brabham's chief mechanic, before moving on to McLaren, and then designing cars in other areas of motorsport before joining Jordan for their debut F1 season in 1991. Since leaving motorsport engineering, he has gained experience in broadcasting, working for Ireland's RTE, as well as F1 journalism. JAMES ALLEN James Allen has been a writer and broadcaster in motorsport for two decades. He started his journalistic career in F1 in 1992 as an editor on Autosport magazine and has also worked for ESPN and ITV in a variety of roles, including pit-lane reporter and commentator. James started his F1 career as a member of Brabham's press team in 1990 and has also been the F1 correspondent for the Financial Times since 1999. He became ITV Sport's lead commentator on Formula 1 in October 2001, having deputised for Murray Walker at six races during the 2000 and 2001 seasons. During his seven years with ITV, the commentary team won three consecutive Bafta awards and the Royal Television Society's Sports Programme of the Year award. In 2008, James received an Autosport Award for the dramatic coverage of the final laps of the Brazilian GP. JENNIE GOW Jennie Gow is BBC Radio 5 live's pit-lane reporter, a role she filled as a stand-in at the 2011 Canadian and Hungarian Grands Prix. In 2010, she was the main presenter for the BBC's coverage of MotoGP. Prior to that, she presented motorsport programmes on several channels, including Channel 4 and Sky. ANDREW BENSON Andrew Benson has been covering Formula 1 for 18 years. He was Autosport magazine's Grand Prix editor from 1996-2000 and a regular contributor to the Guardian newspaper from 1997-2000, and has contributed to a number of magazines and books. Andrew joined BBC Sport's website in 2000 as one of its senior journalists. He has continued to specialise in F1, and has attended more than 100 Grands Prix as a reporter. Read Andrew's blogs



Bookmark with: Delicious

Digg

reddit

Facebook

StumbleUpon What are these? E-mail this to a friend Printable version