Walker is commentating again after a six-year absence

The 83-year-old, who last commentated on a Formula One race for ITV in 2001, will be behind the microphone for Radio Five Live at Germany's Nurburgring.

"I am looking forward to it enormously but with some apprehension," he said.

"There is a danger I could fall flat on my face! But I am back where I belong on the BBC, where I did my first ever broadcast, at the British GP in 1949."

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Walker is standing in as a one-off for regular Five Live commentator David Croft, whose wife is having a baby.

He has kept his hand in by doing promotional appearances for the Honda F1 team in recent years.

It would be wonderful for Lewis, McLaren and Britain if he won here and continued his staggering run of podiums Murray Walker

And he says he will have to fight conflicting emotions as he wields the microphone.

"It is a job that I love doing and I hope the listeners enjoy it too," he said, "but it is in the back of my mind that this will be the last and it will be an emotional place to finish. My father won the first ever motorcycle GP here at the Nurburgring in 1927."

Walker says he is hoping for McLaren's Lewis Hamilton to continue his remarkable debut season and win this weekend.

"I just hope the race is as good as the previous nine and maintains the momentum of what is a fantastic season.

"Of course I would like to see the four Brits do well, it would be wonderful for Lewis, McLaren and Britain if he won here and continued his staggering run of podiums.

"It's amazing how well Lewis has done - Fernando Alonso has every reason to feel very worried indeed.

"He's a double world champion and had every right to expect to be dominant, but to be put under such pressure by a perceived number two in his first season in F1 must be very unsettling.

"Alonso won't like it at all, but it makes it all the more exciting for us."

Murray Walker will present Five Live Formula One on Friday evening. The European Grand Prix will be live on BBC radio and this website. Qualifying starts at 1300 BST on Saturday, with the race the same time on Sunday.