The BBC will be hoping that David Coulthard’s sharp tongue is in working order when he provides his expertise as a pundit for its Formula One coverage next season. The Scot has signed up, alongside Martin Brundle, for the show, which switches back to the BBC after 12 years on ITV.

Jonathan Legard, the BBC’s Radio 5 Live football correspondent, is expected to take over the commentator’s microphone from James Allen and Lee McKenzie, a newcomer, will become the new pitlane reporter, the role carried out by Louise Goodman on ITV. Only Brundle, the former driver turned acclaimed pundit, is moving to the new programme from the award-winning ITV crew.

Coulthard, the oldest driver on the grid at 37 and in his final three races with Red Bull, has unleashed a tirade on Ted Kravitz, another of ITV’s commentary team, who will not be joining the BBC.

Kravitz described Coulthard as being “a shadow of the driver he was this time last year” during the Singapore Grand Prix last month, but Coulthard used his blog on the ITV website to set the record straight.

“How many people have you, Ted Kravitz, overtaken?” he wrote. “What I think this highlights is the difficulty that people who are not ex-drivers have in explaining some of the nuances of Formula One to the public. Very often the opinion-formers are people who don’t have any direct experience of what they are talking about.”

Coulthard is known for being spiky in the face of criticism and having the sort of trenchant views that will be welcome in the commentary box after ITV’s increasingly bland presentation.

He announced his retirement in July, after a career covering 14 years at Williams, McLaren and Red Bull. Although his record is impressive, with 13 victories and the biggest haul of grand prix points by any British driver, he has often been accused of underachievement, even though he raced mainly in an era dominated by Michael Schumacher, arguably the greatest Formula One driver.