Podcast: Martin Brundle inducted into Hall of Fame

Martin Brundle is among the motor racing greats inducted into the Motor Sport Hall of Fame this year and he joins us for our final podcast of the year.

A career that began with banger racing led to a legendary duel with Ayrton Senna for the 1983 British Formula 3 title, and then on to ten years in Formula 1, the World Sportscar Championship and victory at Le Mans.

Few racers could be disappointed with that record, but as Brundle says in the podcast: “My driving career was a fact-finding mission for my media career”.

Brundle’s talent for TV (“I’m a car dealer, I’m used to engaging people”) first emerged at Spa in 1989 where he retired his Brabham and was pulled into the BBC commentary box to fill in for an absent James Hunt.

By 1997, Brundle was alongside Murray Walker full time and he reveals the one piece of advice he was given by the commentating master that has stuck with him ever since.

He compares the secret of his success to the game show Catchphrase  — “You’ve just got to say what you see,” and explains why he’s secretly pleased that Covid put a temporary halt to his famous grid walk, although he’s looking forward to bringing it back when possible.

Brundle says that he fully expects to be replaced “soon” by another commentator who will “blow me out of the water” — although not before another Sky deal, and not for lack of knowledge. As Brundle heads into his 25th year of full-time commentating, he still manages to offer remarkable insight from a driver’s perspective, thanks to the 56 (and counting) F1 cars he’s driven.

Watch the podcast in full at the top of the page, or listen to the audio version below.