Humphrey quits BBC F1 role

18/09/2012

BBC's F1 team took another hit today with the news that Jake Humphrey is to leave in order to take the main presenting role with BT Vision, the new football channel.

In the wake of the move which saw the BBC effectively hand the F1 rights to Sky, keeping just ten live races for itself, Martin Brundle led the way as the broadcaster's team jumped ship leaving just Humphrey, David Coulthard and Eddie Jordan.

Today it was revealed that Humphrey will leave the BBC team at the end of the season to begin work with BT Vision which will start broadcasting its Premier League football coverage - the rights to which are thought to have cost £738m over three years - next year.

Favourite to replace Humphrey must be the more than capable Lee McKenzie, though it remains to be seen whether Coulthard and Jordan will want to continue with what appears to be a listing ship.

It's believed that Humphrey's relationship with the BBC soured in the summer when he felt he wasn't being given the prominence he wanted as part of the corporation's Euro 2012 (football) team, the 33-year-old subsequently deciding to leave the tournament in order to host coverage of the Valencia race, a race he was not originally scheduled to attend. There is also talk that that Humphrey, who changed management earlier this year, was unhappy with his £250,000 a year salary, compared to that of Gary Lineker (thought to be £2m).

The BBC's current contract runs until 2018.

Curiously, the BBC F1 website, which usually carries all Humphrey's tweets remains unusually quiet today.