Profile of Martin Brundle on Famous Like Me

Martin Brundle (born June 1, 1959) is a motor racing and former Formula One driver known chiefly as the man who ran Ayrton Senna close in British Formula Three and as ITV Sport F1 commentator.

Brundle was born at King's Lynn, Norfolk, England. A very intelligent and fast racing driver, 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 World Sports Car Champion, with a record points haul, and won the 1990 Le Mans 24 hour Race for Jaguar.

His Formula One career began with Tyrrell in 1984. He put in a number of aggressive and fast drives, finishing a fast 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. Through years of inferior equipment and sabbaticals from F1, it was eight years before Brundle would legitimately claim another podium finish, although the top step eluded him. The closest he came was Canada in 1992, where in a race of attrition, Brundle looked to be favourite to inherit the lead before he himself broke down.

He was especially strong on street circuits and similarly slow-speed courses - Monaco, Adelaide and the Hungaroring each produced 4 points finishes for him. His 1992 season is widely regarded in Formula 1 as the closest any team-mate of Michael Schumacher's has come to matching his performances. He was also teamed with Mika Häkkinen at McLaren in 1994, and Rubens Barrichello at Jordan in 1996. To the chagrin of commentators worldwide, he was twice teamed with compatriot and near-namesake Mark Blundell.

Brundle retired from full-time Grand Prix racing in 1997, although he has continued to be a star performer at Le Mans.

He is best known now as a highly regarded British Television commentator. In this role he is the senior commentator for ITV Sport's F1 coverage. In this role he generally draws on his experience to act as the color commentator.

Brundle took the wheel of a Jaguar F1 car for the Formula One demonstration in London prior to the 2004 British Grand Prix.

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.

His sportscar prowess led to an invite 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 a shortened field. (One of the 12 drivers had been injured in a crash in another discipline of racing the previous day, and was unable to participate. That driver was not replaced.)

Complete Formula One results

(Note: grands prix in bold denote points scoring races.)

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