Martin Brundle had one of his toughest grid walks after being brutally rejected by Queen lead guitarist Brian May before being told to stand back by a security guard at the British Grand Prix. Brundle’s grid walks see the ex-F1 driver encounter a wide variety of stars, with May the latest, being seen taking a closer look at a Mercedes on the front row.
As Brundle approached the British music icon, May dismissed the Sky Sports pundit with an honest admission that he doesn’t know much about F1. Brundle later stated he respected the musician’s honesty.
It went from bad to worse for the 65-year-old as he was told off by security twice as he attempted to get some last-minute comments from drivers heading to the grid. Luckily for Brundle, the home straight was bone-dry as the rain clouds held out for the 3pm start.
Brundle isn’t a fan of Sky Sport’s grid walks, though, despite it being one of the highlights of race weekends. Misidentifying celebrities, as he has done on a couple of occasions with the NFL’s Patrick Mahomes, being ignored or mucked around rubs Brundle the wrong way.
During an interview with the Telegraph, Brundle said: “I’ve been in F1 for 38 years. I had nine podiums as a F1 driver. I was a world sportscar champion, a Le Mans winner, a Daytona winner. I like to think I’ve called some pretty good races in my time. Worked with the great Murray Walker.
“But there’s no doubt about it. I’m most famous now for gridwalks. And frankly it annoys me! I don’t really want to be remembered for getting the wrong person, or being ignored, or being mucked about by some bodyguards.”
Brundle doesn’t rewatch his grid walks either. He added: “I just don’t want to see it. I don’t know who that person is. I mean you’ve known me a long time, Tom. I’m not a pushy person am I?
“So butting in on three team principals having a chinwag on the grid, as if I’m somehow more important than whatever they are talking about… or barging up to a megastar like Beckham…
“And you do have to get your elbows out these days. I mean I used to have the grid to myself back in the day so it’s definitely got more challenging in that respect.”
Mercedes closed out the front row with George Russell and Lewis Hamilton. McLaren’s Lando Norris completed a British 1-2-3 start at Silverstone. He was joined on the second row by rival Max Verstappen, who he spectacularly clashed with last week in Austria.