Latest news with #MartinBrundle
Yahoo
09-07-2025
- Automotive
- Yahoo
Martin Brundle ‘quite sad' about Red Bull sacking ‘friend' Christian Horner
Martin Brundle admits he is 'quite sad' after Christian Horner was sacked by Red Bull on Wednesday morning. The Red Bull F1 boss was relieved of his duties in a shock announcement, ending his 20-year tenure in charge of the team, and a year on from being embroiled in a scandal involving a female colleague. Advertisement Former F1 racer and Sky Sports pundit Brundle gave his immediate reaction to his 'friend' Horner being removed from his post. 'It is not completely out of the blue, given the problems in the team. I'm quite sad about it. I consider Christian a friend and he's done an incredible job for 20 years,' Brundle told Sky Sports News. 'He's won an awful lot of races and World Championships for driver and the team. He took it from what was the Stewart team and Jaguar, into a massive campus in Milton Keynes and an awful lot of success and a huge trophy cabinet. 'It's not too difficult to feel in the F1 paddock and to observe and hear that things were not particularly rosy.' Advertisement Brundle also revealed that Horner has not been given a clear reason as to why he has been sacked by Red Bull's parent company. 'I believe it's probably performance-related as well,' Brundle said, when asked about the reasoning behind the decision. 'I think it perhaps makes it more likely that the Verstappens (Max and Jos) will stay there, that became quite personal. 'There are a number of aspects. The car is struggling, but they've won races brilliantly this year. 'I'm due to speak to Christan later in the day, I said 'can I have a chat?' And he wasn't able to do that. No reason was given to him as to why he's been released. That's the only hard info on that. Martin Brundle admitted he was 'quite sad' about Christian Horner's sacking (Sutton Images) Horner and his wife Geri at last year's Bahrain Grand Prix (David Davies/PA). (PA Archive) 'Nothing's forever, things move on.' Advertisement However, Brundle does believe that the sacking makes Max Verstappen more likely to stay at Red Bull for next season. The four-time world champion has been heavily linked with a move to Mercedes in recent weeks, with Verstappen's father, Jos, known to want Horner to leave his job for at least a year. 'It remains to be seen, every point Max has through his own genius driving is in a Red Bull car,' Brundle said. 'They're debuting their own engine for the first time next year, which is going to be the biggest change in Formula 1 history. We know that Max has an exit clause based on where he is in the world championship at the end of this month. 'I can only surmise it means it's more likely he stays at this moment.'
Daily Telegraph
08-07-2025
- Automotive
- Daily Telegraph
F1 world turns on Piastri as ‘angry side' exposed for first time
Don't miss out on the headlines from F1. Followed categories will be added to My News. Formula 1 icon Martin Brundle says fans are seeing the 'angry side' of Aussie Oscar Piastri for the first time. There are some motorsport figures and countless social media users who can't handle it. The McLaren driver has come under fire for his behaviour following the British Grand Prix where a 10-second penalty cost him a race win. As McLaren teammate Lando Norris charged to win his home race at Silverstone, Piastri made a desperate request for his team to order Norris to switch positions. His request was centred around messages from his team that they also believed FIA stewards were wrong to penalise the Melburnian for an unsafe re-start when a safety car pulled into the pits on Lap 22. The 24-year-old's sudden braking forced Max Verstappen to take evasive action. Piastri was visibly frustrated with how the race had unfolded and let his emotions show in his first interviews in parc ferme. Fox Sports, available on Kayo Sports, is the only place to watch every practice, qualifying session and race in the 2025 FIA Formula One World Championship™ LIVE in 4K. New to Kayo? Get your first month for just $1. Limited time offer. He said he did not want to say much about the penalty because he was going to 'get himself in trouble'. It was on team radio when first informed his request had been denied that he was at his most aggrieved, saying: 'I think I'll get myself banned for the year if I say anything here'. Brundle has now written in his column Piastri's bold request was 'more than cheeky'. 'It seems the Drivers' Championship showdown will indeed be between Piastri and Norris, and we can expect some fireworks there. Watch the moment Oscar Piastri was penalised for in the video above Oscar Piastri congratulates Lando Norris on the win. (Photo by) 'That's the first time we've seen the angry side of the calm silent Aussie assassin. 'Oscar's radio call for the places to be swapped if the team thought he'd received an unfair penalty was more than cheeky, though.' F1 analyst Peter Windsor also said Piastri's team order request was something he hadn't seen before. 'Oscar got on the radio and quite surprisingly and I think quite intelligently said that whole thing with the safety car was ridiculous, we should be basically appealing that, we should reverse positions now on that basis and then race to the finish,' he said on YouTube. 'Which I can't remember any driver ever saying that and you've got to give him full marks for thinking laterally there and he was the quicker driver over the weekend for McLaren and there he is being super aggressive on the radio about something like that and of course had they not decided to serve that 10-second penalty in Oscar's pit stop and waited till the end of the race.' Oscar Piastri during the British Grand Prix press conference. Photo: X and @F1. F1 journalist James Elson also understood Piastri's anger because the former Alpine driver had been the superior driver in the McLaren garage all weekend. 'Aside from that misdemeanour, Piastri bossed most of the race,' Elson wrote in 'Once dispensing with Max Verstappen early on, the Australian kept Norris at arm's length throughout – the Brit was never in the same league as his McLaren colleague.' He went on to write: 'Piastri was full of rage after being demoted to second in a British GP he felt should have rightfully been his. 'When it was put to him by Sky that he had driven brilliantly, he simply replied: 'Yep, I know,' through a strained smile. 'If he's that good when he's chilled out, what'll be like when he's angry? We can't wait to see.' One video of Piastri's first reaction posted on X by a Piastri fan account has more than 70,000 views with the account posting: 'OMG I don't think I have ever seen him this angry'. Those interactions have allowed some sections of the Formula 1 word to paint a picture of Piastri being a sore loser. There have also been wild suggestions Piastri was out of line when jokingly asking Nico Hulkenberg what he thought about the first podium trophy of his career being made out of Lego because of a commercial relationship between the British Grand Prix and building block goliath. Social media users, many of them Norris supporters, have shared harsh messages on X, accusing Piastri of poor sportsmanship by failing to celebrate his teammate's win. Piastri, did however, congratulate his teammate on the win and said after the race it would not have been 'fair' for the team to ask Norris to let him pass. The way it played out has put a fire in his belly. 'I thought I would ask the question,' Piastri said. 'I knew what the answer was going to be before I asked, but I just wanted a small glimmer of hope that maybe I could get it back. But no, I knew it wasn't going to happen. 'I don't think there was anything wrong with it. Lando didn't do anything wrong. 'I don't think it would have been particularly fair to have swapped, but I thought I would at least ask. 'It doesn't change much for the championship. I feel like I did a good job today. I feel I did what I needed to. That's all I need. I will use the frustration to make sure I win some more races later.' Norris now has eight career wins, one more than Piastri, and with the McLaren drivers separated by just eight points in the standings, the championship is set to go down to the wire over the second half of the season. Originally published as F1 world turns on Piastri as 'angry side' exposed for first time
News.com.au
08-07-2025
- Automotive
- News.com.au
F1 world turns on Piastri as ‘angry side' exposed for first time
Formula 1 icon Martin Brundle says fans are seeing the 'angry side' of Aussie Oscar Piastri for the first time. There are some motorsport figures and countless social media users who can't handle it. The McLaren driver has come under fire for his behaviour following the British Grand Prix where a 10-second penalty cost him a race win. As McLaren teammate Lando Norris charged to win his home race at Silverstone, Piastri made a desperate request for his team to order Norris to switch positions. His request was centred around messages from his team that they also believed FIA stewards were wrong to penalise the Melburnian for an unsafe re-start when a safety car pulled into the pits on Lap 22. The 24-year-old's sudden braking forced Max Verstappen to take evasive action. Piastri was visibly frustrated with how the race had unfolded and let his emotions show in his first interviews in parc ferme. Fox Sports, available on Kayo Sports, is the only place to watch every practice, qualifying session and race in the 2025 FIA Formula One World Championship™ LIVE in 4K. New to Kayo? Get your first month for just $1. Limited time offer. He said he did not want to say much about the penalty because he was going to 'get himself in trouble'. It was on team radio when first informed his request had been denied that he was at his most aggrieved, saying: 'I think I'll get myself banned for the year if I say anything here'. Brundle has now written in his column Piastri's bold request was 'more than cheeky'. 'It seems the Drivers' Championship showdown will indeed be between Piastri and Norris, and we can expect some fireworks there. Watch the moment Oscar Piastri was penalised for in the video above 'That's the first time we've seen the angry side of the calm silent Aussie assassin. 'Oscar's radio call for the places to be swapped if the team thought he'd received an unfair penalty was more than cheeky, though.' F1 analyst Peter Windsor also said Piastri's team order request was something he hadn't seen before. 'Oscar got on the radio and quite surprisingly and I think quite intelligently said that whole thing with the safety car was ridiculous, we should be basically appealing that, we should reverse positions now on that basis and then race to the finish,' he said on YouTube. 'Which I can't remember any driver ever saying that and you've got to give him full marks for thinking laterally there and he was the quicker driver over the weekend for McLaren and there he is being super aggressive on the radio about something like that and of course had they not decided to serve that 10-second penalty in Oscar's pit stop and waited till the end of the race.' F1 journalist James Elson also understood Piastri's anger because the former Alpine driver had been the superior driver in the McLaren garage all weekend. 'Aside from that misdemeanour, Piastri bossed most of the race,' Elson wrote in 'Once dispensing with Max Verstappen early on, the Australian kept Norris at arm's length throughout – the Brit was never in the same league as his McLaren colleague.' He went on to write: 'Piastri was full of rage after being demoted to second in a British GP he felt should have rightfully been his. 'When it was put to him by Sky that he had driven brilliantly, he simply replied: 'Yep, I know,' through a strained smile. 'If he's that good when he's chilled out, what'll be like when he's angry? We can't wait to see.' One video of Piastri's first reaction posted on X by a Piastri fan account has more than 70,000 views with the account posting: 'OMG I don't think I have ever seen him this angry'. Those interactions have allowed some sections of the Formula 1 word to paint a picture of Piastri being a sore loser. There have also been wild suggestions Piastri was out of line when jokingly asking Nico Hulkenberg what he thought about the first podium trophy of his career being made out of Lego because of a commercial relationship between the British Grand Prix and building block goliath. Social media users, many of them Norris supporters, have shared harsh messages on X, accusing Piastri of poor sportsmanship by failing to celebrate his teammate's win. Piastri, did however, congratulate his teammate on the win and said after the race it would not have been 'fair' for the team to ask Norris to let him pass. The way it played out has put a fire in his belly. 'I thought I would ask the question,' Piastri said. 'I knew what the answer was going to be before I asked, but I just wanted a small glimmer of hope that maybe I could get it back. But no, I knew it wasn't going to happen. 'I don't think there was anything wrong with it. Lando didn't do anything wrong. 'I don't think it would have been particularly fair to have swapped, but I thought I would at least ask. 'It doesn't change much for the championship. I feel like I did a good job today. I feel I did what I needed to. That's all I need. I will use the frustration to make sure I win some more races later.'
Telegraph
07-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Telegraph
Martin Brundle's Alan Partridge act helped Silverstone wipe the floor with Wimbledon
The Grand Prix was viewable on two stations yesterday: Channel 4's coverage is good but there is nobody like Martin Brundle, and his contributions put Sky Sports on top of the podium. His pre-race grid walks remain unmissable TV, balanced always on the knife edge between virtuoso live broadcasting and Alan Partridgian fiasco. The segment has evolved from being a strictly-for-the-hardcore series of flash interviews with drivers and team directors into a superbly postmodern mash-up where genuine A-listers and, at the risk of being unkind, total nobodies alike all come in for the same Brundle treatment: urgent, affable, and with a rich tang of potential chaos. Its appeal lies in a double jeopardy element because the interviewees often don't know who the hell the pushy middle-aged British guy is and, crucially, Brundle has on occasion been far from certain as to who they are either. It often has the feel of an anxiety dream or a pub quiz in hell. The time he was talking to NFL quarterback Patrick Mahomes but it was in fact an NBA player called Paolo Banchero. The time he didn't know who rapper Machine Gun Kelly was but tried to fish it out of him by saying 'and how's your career going?' while looking frantically for context clues in the fact that Mr Kelly was covered in spiked metal and a lemon skintight vest. A classic Martin Brundle gridwalk moment with Machine Gun Kelly 😅 — Sky Sports F1 (@SkySportsF1) November 5, 2023 The time in China he asked the CEO of Ferrari's sponsor 'do you speak English?' (She did). The time he had an each way bet 'Are you Marco Mariachi, Matazzi?' on Marco Materazzi. Nurse, the screens. Sunday's edition went relatively smoothly: being on British soil is an advantage, with Martin on surer footing picking out your Jeremy Clarksons and the Gordon Ramsays of this world than he is with American hip hoppers, and fair enough, why wouldn't he be? One highlight at Silverstone was national treasure Hannah Waddingham, who told Martin: 'I can go home now. What an unbelievable privilege to meet you, sir.' Quite right too. He also grabbed Damson Idris (whose F1 film with Brad Pitt has done $200million at the box office already before the weekend), Tom Holland (who remained admirably calm when Martin began freestyling with 'waiting for the track to dry out is like waiting for an avocado to ripen') and, er, Kaleb out of Clarkson's Farm, who started talking about combine harvesters. Only momentarily did Martin wobble, when it got crowded and he couldn't find anyone he recognised (we can add Aaron Taylor Johnson, current star of box office smash 28 Years Later but completely blanked by Martin about five times, to the list of famous people who aren't on the Brundle radar yet) and it all got very fraught as he dived under a security rope, clearly losing his shape. But salvation hove into view! 'Ah, Ian Wright!' said Martin. Panic over, we're in safe hands. Wrighty was having a lovely time, obviously, and the good vibes were back. Do you see now, Eni Aluko? Do you? Anyhow, the depth and breadth of stars on display suggests that everyone involved in the marketing of F1 should be given an extra helping of diesel for tea, or however it is they are incentivised, because it blew the other big British sporting showpiece of the day away in terms of star wattage on parade. Over at Wimbledon, the crowd was invited to show its appreciation for a smorgasbord of sporting Royal Box attendees, almost all of whom could walk down the high street, or indeed through an F1 grid, utterly untroubled by unwanted attention from the citizenry: coxless fours this, equestrian that. Brian Charles Lara the exception, obvs. Nice that they get a day out, but come on. Back to the F1 TV coverage, there was a feature pre-race where actual Brad Pitt did some race car driving under the tutelage of Brundle, and another stunt where Brundle and Oliver Bearman drove original 1950s cars around the track. Very enjoyable, and (to this agnostic at least) a bonus in that the race itself was quite a lot less boring than usual. Winner. Added to the success of Drive To Survive, it's further evidence that F1 is doing imaginative work in selling itself in different markets and cross-pollinating to audiences beyond the existing fans. Other sports should take note, or even try to find themselves a Martin Brundle.
Yahoo
06-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Lewis Hamilton gets commentator a part in F1 movie
Racing commentator David Croft has credited racer Lewis Hamilton for getting him a part in the film F1. Speaking ahead of the British Grand Prix in Silverstone the broadcaster explained how Hamilton, who like him is from Stevenage, Hertfordshire, insisted he was part of the film. Filmmakers had wanted to use actors to deliver commentary during racing sequences, but Hamilton had pushed to use Croft and Martin Brundle instead. He said: "It was Lewis Hamilton who came up with the idea and I've said to him he could be my agent anytime he wants." At the premiere in New York in June, Croft introduced himself to Brad Pitt - the film's star - who recognised him and told him the two commentators "legitimise everything we do in this movie". At the London premiere on 23 June Croft said he scored "dad points" by introducing his son to the movie star, who did not believe the two knew one another. He laughed: "I said, 'James, this is Brad. Brad, this is James,' and [Pitt] went: "Ah, Crofty Junior, so good to see you, man." During the New York premiere Croft and Hamilton had a moment to discuss their shared hometown of Stevenage. Despite meeting many times, and the broadcaster commentating on Hamilton's races since he won his first F1 title in 2008, the two had never discussed that they were from the same place. He recalled: "Martin and Lewis and I were having a chat and I went... we are so far from Stevenage now. "He laughed and chuckled, I said 'did you ever think one day we'd be in Time Square having shut New York down to do a film premiere?' He went: 'No, it's just crazy.'" Follow Beds, Herts and Bucks news on BBC Sounds, Facebook, Instagram and X. Driver who inspired F1 film touched by Pitt thanks Brad Pitt hails Silverstone as F1 hits cinemas Brad Pitt back at Silverstone filming F1 movie
