Martin Brundle (born June 1, 1959) was a motor racing driver known chiefly as the man who ran Ayrton Senna close in British Formula Three but did little after that.
But that summary does not do justice to Brundle who 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. Despite this, 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.
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.
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.
Complete Formula One results
(Note: grands prix in bold denote points scoring races.)
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