Where's Coulthard going

[fcuk1_6]

Looks like Coulthard has been confirmed as Ch4 F1 presenter: http://www.eurosport.co.uk/formula-1/coulthard-sea...
Killing his supposed Top Gear role:
https://uk.sports.yahoo.com/news/formula-1--david-...

[belleair302]

CH4 are only covering 10 GP's live so that leaves loads of time for him to 'freelance'. The other GP's will be highlights, so the commentary is done in a studio. His issue is tax, being a Monaco resident and spending time in the UK will cost him, 51% above a certain amount.

[happygoron]

Coulthard (and Jake Humphrey) is a part owner of the production company contracted to do the coverage - Whisper Films. Not a shock that he's involved.

[jamiebae]

belleair302 said:

CH4 are only covering 10 GP's live so that leaves loads of time for him to 'freelance'. The other GP's will be highlights, so the commentary is done in a studio. His issue is tax, being a Monaco resident and spending time in the UK will cost him, 51% above a certain amount.

I agree on the tax point, but will the commentary for the highlights races really be done in a studio remotely? The BBC sent a crew to every race irrespective of it being live or not, and made a good few quid from selling the coverage to other broadcasters so I assumed that C4 would do the same.

[patmahe]

Any chance of Jake coming back to present F1 on C4 himself? IMO he was the best presenter they have had. Suzi was ok but never seemed comfortable in the role.

[jamiebae]

I doubt it, he has a contract with BT Sport and was pretty open about jacking in the F1 job because he wanted to actually see his family. Nothing has changed in that regard so I assume he won't be back in any meaningful way.

[R1 Indy]

I have no doubt that if DC is given the option of either F1 or Topgear. He would choose F1.

[ma9mwah]

jamiebae said:

I agree on the tax point, but will the commentary for the highlights races really be done in a studio remotely? The BBC sent a crew to every race irrespective of it being live or not, and made a good few quid from selling the coverage to other broadcasters so I assumed that C4 would do the same.

The BBC covered every race live at the circuit, but only broadcast it live to the UK for 10. Other countries (e.g. Ireland) bought the live coverage and had the full 19 races.

[Europa1]

patmahe said:

Any chance of Jake coming back to present F1 on C4 himself? IMO he was the best presenter they have had. Suzi was ok but never seemed comfortable in the role.

I thought Suzi Perry never even reached the level of "OK". I think Lee McKenzie is a much better, more natural presenter, and actually did a good job filling in when Jake Humphrey was off covering the 2012 Olympics. As another poster noted, Jake Humphrey gave up F1 because of the time away from home.

[Durzel]

Even though I don't watch F1 in any meaningful way anymore I would hope that Lee McKenzie would get a frontline presenters gig. She ought to have got it instead of Suzi in the first place.

[BarbaricAvatar]

I disagree, I think Lee loves doing what she's been doing for the past 5 years and should continue doing it. It takes time to build up a rapport with the drivers, especially the moody WDC's. It would be a shame to put all that behind her.
If she wants to do presenting then that's fine, but i do look forward to her interviews as she tends not to ask dumb questions and gets along with a lot of the drivers.

[Teppic]

jamiebae said:

I doubt it, he has a contract with BT Sport and was pretty open about jacking in the F1 job because he wanted to actually see his family. Nothing has changed in that regard so I assume he won't be back in any meaningful way.

If the presentation is purely studio based (with just the commentary team and pit reporters attending the race) then it may be possible. He did say when he joined BT that the contract was not exclusive and that he could present programmes on another channel.

I reckon they'll go with someone new, though.

[Swervin_Mervin]

No one knows what his intended role was exactly on Top Gear anyway - could've been doing stuff over here, or it could be doing shoots on location.

I don't see that presenting on C4 for F1 in any way precludes working on Top Gear.

[jamiebae]

Swervin_Mervin said:

No one knows what his intended role was exactly on Top Gear anyway - could've been doing stuff over here, or it could be doing shoots on location.

I don't see that presenting on C4 for F1 in any way precludes working on Top Gear.

Presenting the F1 fills Friday to Sunday 20 weeks a year, and for six months of the year he has to be in Monaco. Add in the travel days and time spent at flyaways and back-to-back races and he certainly isn't going to be doing a studio presenting slot every week the show is on.

A few bits here and there, possibly, but not a full time presenting role.

[Swervin_Mervin]

Shooting live isn't going to take much time over a run of say 10 episodes. He'll just be back on a jet to Monaco immediately thereafter.

It's probably more a question of whether he'd want to rather than whether he can.

[rscott]

BarbaricAvatar said:

I disagree, I think Lee loves doing what she's been doing for the past 5 years and should continue doing it. It takes time to build up a rapport with the drivers, especially the moody WDC's. It would be a shame to put all that behind her.
If she wants to do presenting then that's fine, but i do look forward to her interviews as she tends not to ask dumb questions and gets along with a lot of the drivers.

She's already said on Twitter that she's going to be busy this year with the Olympics (amongst other programmes) so won't be doing F1, sadly.

[leglessAlex]

rscott said:

BarbaricAvatar said:

I disagree, I think Lee loves doing what she's been doing for the past 5 years and should continue doing it. It takes time to build up a rapport with the drivers, especially the moody WDC's. It would be a shame to put all that behind her.
If she wants to do presenting then that's fine, but i do look forward to her interviews as she tends not to ask dumb questions and gets along with a lot of the drivers.

She's already said on Twitter that she's going to be busy this year with the Olympics (amongst other programmes) so won't be doing F1, sadly.

That's a real loss, her interviews were fantastic.

[nikaiyo2]

happygoron said:

Coulthard (and Jake Humphrey) is a part owner of the production company contracted to do the coverage - Whisper Films. Not a shock that he's involved.

Explains why he is commentating, no one in their right mind would think mmm who will we get to present our Tv show? A man with the personality of wall paper paste. Fingers crossed he won't be on C4 then I won't need to resubscribe to sky sports lol