MARTIN BRUNDLE

'Martin Brundle' (born June 1, 1959 in King's Lynn, Norfolk) is an English motor racing driver known chiefly as the man who ran Ayrton Senna close in British Formula Three, a journeyman Formula One driver and as an ITV Sport F1 commentator.
Brundle never really got the breaks at the top level of single seaters, but when offered opportunities in other disciplines, he took them. He was the 1988 Worlds Sportscar Champion, with a record points haul, and won the 1990 Le Mans 24 hour Race for Jaguar in a XJR-12.

Contents

Career

Early Formula One career

Sportscars and Brabham

Later career

Post Formula One

Complete Formula One results

Personal

External links

Career

Early Formula One career

His Formula One career began with Tyrrell in 1984. He put in a number of aggressive and fast drives, finishing fifth in his first race and then second at Detroit. But then double disaster struck. At the Dallas Grand Prix, Brundle broke his ankles in a crash during a practice session. Then Tyrrell were disqualified from the world championship for 1984 due to a technical infringement. For the next two seasons he remained with Tyrrell, but without a works engine supply the team would struggle against the sport's giants. In 1987 he switched to Zakspeed, but managed only two points, the car unable to compete with the frontrunners.

Sportscars and Brabham

Four years of racing for underfunded teams led him to seek a new challenge. In 1988 he won his world sports car title, but also guested for Williams at the Belgian Grand Prix, after Nigel Mansell was struck down with chickenpox. In 1989 he returned to F1 full-time with the returning Brabham squad, but the former champions were unable to recapture their early 1980s success and Brundle opted to move back into the sports car arena for 1990. The Le Mans victory came that year and rejuvenated his career, but still a top-line race seat in Formula One eluded him. In 1991 he rejoined Brabham, but the squad had fallen even further down the grid and results were sparse.

Later career

Despite failing to grab headlines in 1991, Brundle finally got his big break for 1992, with a switch to Benetton, a team very much on the up.
Through years of inferior equipment and sabbaticals from F1, it was eight years before Brundle would legitimately claim a podium finish, although the top step eluded him. In 1992 he enjoyed by far his best season, with a very strong finish to the year. The closest he came to a win was in Canada, where in a race of attrition, Brundle looked to be favourite to inherit the lead before he himself broke down. He never managed to outqualify his illustrious team-mate Michael Schumacher, but in the second half of the year was occasionally able to outrace the young German. At Spa, Brundle overtook the future champion. Schumacher noticed blisters on his team-mate's tyres and came in for slicks, a move that won him the race. Had Brundle not overtaken him, perhaps he may have pitted that crucial lap earlier, a victory the possible result.
Despite an excellent 1992, Brundle found himself dropped from Benetton for 1993, Italian Riccardo Patrese taking his place. Brundle came close to a dream deal with world champions Williams, but in the end Damon Hill won the drive instead. Still keen to stay in F1, Brundle found himself racing for Ligier in 1993. Another podium was achieved in a good season for the Brit.
Going into 1994 he had no contract, but was very much in the frame for the vacant McLaren seat alongside Mika Häkkinen. McLaren were hopeful of re-signing their former driver Alain Prost, at that time the reigning world champion. Prost, who had retired after winning his fourth title, decided not to return and so Brundle got the drive. It was a case of bad timing in many ways. McLaren were on a downturn and throughout 1994 were unable to win. The team's Peugeot engines were somewhat unreliable as was to be expected from a debuting engine supplier. At Silverstone Brundle's engine appeared to explode just as the starting lights turned green. In reality the culprit was a faulty clutch that cracked spilling its lubricants on top of hot engine causing a spectacular fire. Nevertheless, Brundle put in some strong performances that season, most noticeably at Monaco where he finished second only to Schumacher.
Having had poor luck and with Nigel Mansell signed to McLaren for 1995, Brundle once more raced for Ligier that year, although not for the full season. To appease Mugen-Honda he had to share the second seat with Aguri Suzuki, a move denounced by many commentators and fans. He impressed however, a strong fourth at Magny-Cours and what would be his last F1 podium at Spa, the highlights. In 1996 he teamed up with Rubens Barrichello at Jordan and enjoyed a good season, despite a slow start and a spectacular crash at Melbourne's inaugural GP, with regular points, fourth his best result.
Although he never won a race, he achieved 9 podiums, and scored a total of 98 championship points, with a best championship finish of 6th in 1992. Martin is statistically the most successful F1 driver, in terms of points scored, never to have won a race. He was especially strong on street circuits and similarly slow-speed courses — Monaco, Adelaide and the Hungaroring each produced 4 points finishes for him.

Post Formula One

Brundle had hoped to stay in F1 beyond 1996, but could not find a seat, although he went on to star once more at Le Mans. Drives for Nissan, Toyota and Bentley impressed, but a second victory failed to materialise. Brundle's last Le Mans outing came in 2001, after which he focused on his role with the BRDC.
Having largely retired from motor racing, Brundle is now highly regarded as a commentator on British television network ITV, where he is co-commentator alongside James Allen and presenter of features (e.g. "F1 Insight" analysis segments, track guides and "grid walks") for the network's F1 coverage. He draws on his experience to provide depth to his commentary in a similar way to the "colour commentators" on American TV. Brundle has won the RTS Television Sports Award for best Sports Pundit in 1998, 1999, 2005 and 2006. In 2005 the judges described him as:
:''"...an outstanding operator at the very peak of his game – with an extraordinary ability to simplify and entertain in an often complex sport. He also exhibited a fearless authority on some of the most sensitive issues – not least his gimlet-eyed pursuit of Formula one boss Bernie Ecclestone on the grid at Indianapolis!"'' [1].
The production company responsible for ITV's F1 coverage, North One Television, also won the Sports Innovation Award for its Insight features, presented by Brundle.
Presently, he is also David Coulthard's manager, and co-owns a management company, 2MB Sports Management, alongside Mark Blundell. Their clients include McLaren test driver Gary Paffett and British Formula Three champion Mike Conway.
Brundle took the wheel of a Jaguar F1 car for the Formula One demonstration in London prior to the 2004 British Grand Prix and drove a BMW Sauber during a demonstration in 2006.
In 2004 he released his first book 'Working the Wheel'. The title is a reference to his 1996 crash in Melbourne.
His sports car prowess led to an invitation to the 1990 International Race of Champions, a three-race series in 1990 because of the switch to Dodge cars, where he won the second round at Cleveland's Burke Lakefront Airport during the Champcar event, albeit with eleven drivers racing as opposed to the series standard of twelve participants.

Complete Formula One results

() (Races in 'bold' indicate pole position)

Year	Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	Team	WDC	Points
1984	Tyrrell ★	BRA DSQ	RSA DSQ	BEL DSQ	SMR DSQ	FRA DSQ	MON DNQ	CAN DSQ	USE DSQ	USA DNQ	GBR	GER	AUT	NED	ITA	EUR	POR		Tyrrell	-	0
1985	Tyrrell	BRA 8	POR Ret	SMR 9	MON 10	CAN 12	USA Ret	FRA Ret	GBR 7	GER 10	AUT DNQ	NED 7	ITA 8	BEL 13	EUR Ret	RSA 7	AUS NC		Tyrrell	-	0
1986	Tyrrell	BRA 5	ESP Ret	SMR 8	MON Ret	BEL Ret	CAN 9	USA Ret	FRA 10	GBR 5	GER Ret	HUN 6	AUT Ret	ITA 10	POR Ret	MEX 11	AUS 4		Tyrrell	11th	8
1987	Zakspeed	BRA Ret	SMR 5	BEL Ret	MON 7	USA Ret	FRA Ret	GBR NC	GER NC	HUN Ret	AUT DSQ	ITA Ret	POR Ret	ESP 11	MEX Ret	JPN Ret	AUS Ret		Zakspeed	18th	2
1988	Williams	BRA	SMR	MON	MEX	CAN	USA	FRA	GBR	GER	HUN	BEL 7	ITA	POR	ESP	JPN	AUS		Williams	-	0
1989	Brabham	BRA Ret	SMR Ret	MON 6	MEX 9	USA Ret	CAN DNPQ	FRA DNPQ	GBR Ret	GER 8	HUN 12	BEL Ret	ITA 6	POR 8	ESP Ret	JPN 5	AUS Ret		Brabham	20th	4
1991	Brabham	USA 11	BRA 12	SMR 11	MON EX	CAN Ret	MEX Ret	FRA Ret	GBR Ret	GER 11	HUN Ret	BEL 9	ITA 13	POR 12	ESP 10	JPN 5	AUS DNQ		Brabham	15th	2
1992	Benetton	RSA Ret	MEX Ret	BRA Ret	ESP Ret	SMR 4	MON 5	CAN Ret	FRA 3	GBR 3	GER 4	HUN 5	BEL 4	ITA 2	POR 4	JPN 3	AUS 3		Benetton	6th	38
1993	Ligier	RSA Ret	BRA Ret	EUR Ret	SMR 3	ESP Ret	MON 6	CAN 5	FRA 5	GBR 14	GER 8	HUN 5	BEL 7	ITA Ret	POR 6	JPN 9	AUS 6		Ligier	7th	13
1994	McLaren	BRA Ret	PAC Ret	SMR 8	MON 2	ESP 11	CAN Ret	FRA Ret	GBR Ret	GER Ret	HUN 4	BEL Ret	ITA 5	POR 6	EUR Ret	JPN Ret	AUS 3		McLaren	7th	16
1995	Ligier	BRA	ARG	SMR	ESP 9	MON Ret	CAN Ret	FRA 4	GBR Ret	GER	HUN Ret	BEL 3	ITA Ret	POR 8	EUR 7	PAC	JPN	AUS Ret	Ligier	13th	7
1996	Jordan	AUS Ret	BRA 12	ARG Ret	EUR 6	SMR Ret	MON Ret	ESP Ret	CAN 6	FRA 8	GBR 6	GER 10	HUN Ret	BEL Ret	ITA 4	POR 9	JPN 5		Jordan	11th	8

★ - Tyrrell were disqualified from the entire world championship for 1984 due to a technical infringement.

Personal

★ Martin has a son, Alex, who in 2006 competed in the Formula Palmer Audi Autumn Trophy [2] and a brother, Robin, who previously competed in Touring Cars and took part in the 2006 Goodwood circuit revival event.[3]
Martin is probably the only Formula 1 driver to be involved twice in a crash during a race where the other car's tyre has hit his helmet, the first time was the 1986 Monaco GP when the tyre of Patrick Tambay's Haas Lola hit him at Mirabeau corner and the second was the 1994 Brazilian GP when the tyre of Jos Verstappen's Benetton gave him another whack.

External links

★ Martin Brundle at itv.com