31/08/2008
NEWS STORY
Still no news on BBC's line-up for next season, when the British broadcaster takes over Formula One coverage from ITV, after the commercial channel opted to walk away from its contract early.
As a result of the Olympics - the BBC having sent more people to Beijing than there were British athletes - the F1 project has been 'on hold' in recent weeks, though the broadcaster did play host to Bernie Ecclestone during his trip to China, giving him a guided tour of its Olympic HQ.
With the Olympics out of the way, the BBC is now looking ahead to 2009 and the return of F1 - one of the few sports in its dwindling catalogue - however there is no serious news as to who will make up the broadcast team.
According to rumour David Croft, Ben Edwards and Jonathan Legard lead the way, with Pitpass sources adamant that Legard - a BBC stalwart - has taken over from Croft as favourite to land the prize role.
While Steve Ryder, James Allen and Louise Goodman are not part of the BBC's plans it is hoped that the British broadcaster has not overlooked Ted Kravitz who has done a sterling job as pitlane reporter for ITV since 2002.
The Englishman has a reputation for getting the facts and keeping his head under difficult conditions, when all about him appear to be losing theirs, a typical example being Indianapolis 2005, when, courtesy of some excellent digging around, Kravitz was one of the first journalists to seriously cast doubt on whether the United States Grand Prix would go ahead.
As for the ubiquitous role of F1 pundit, while there is no news regarding Martin Brundle retaining his position, many believe that David Coulthard would be a welcome addition to the team, partly due to his no nonsense non-PC approach, and partly due to the fact that he has hands on experience of contemporary F1 machinery.
It's believed that the BBC will announce further details of its plans around the time of the forthcoming Italian GP weekend.