Motorsport’s Martin Brundle says OBE ‘a great privilege’

Ex-Formula 1 driver and Sky Sports broadcaster Martin Brundle has said it is “very special” to be honoured.

The 65-year-old was made an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) by the Prince of Wales at Windsor Castle on Tuesday.

He told the PA news agency: “It’s very special, obviously a great privilege.

“I feel very lucky anyway because I’ve managed to have two careers in Formula 1 with the driving and sports broadcasting, which is what the OBE has been awarded for.

“So I think I’m lucky enough already to have that opportunity in a sport that I love and been involved in for over 40 years.

“I don’t know, is it the crowning glory? You sort of get your head down, do what you think is best, either into a corner at 200 miles an hour or walking down the grid or something on live television.

“You don’t imagine you’ll ever get recognised, but you do it because you love doing it and then sometimes on a day like today, you stop, turn around and look behind you and think ‘Yeah, we’ve covered quite a lot of ground’.”

Brundle spoke about his “crazy” grid walk interviews with drivers and celebrities which often go “viral”.

He said: “They get more and more crazy as time goes on. Formula 1’s incredibly popular at the moment in a way I’ve never seen in those four decades in terms of who wants to be there, who will be seen to be there.

“But it’s a unique opportunity in any live sport to talk to the participants literally moments before, in our case, they head off down to the first corner with 1,000 horsepower.

“So you couldn’t do it at Wimbledon or Wembley… I can go up to a driver literally last minute and ask a question, and we get some interesting people on the grid.

“And there’s also a bit of a car-crash television mentality about it. I don’t know what’s going to happen next… sometimes it’s awful, and sometimes it is quite entertaining, and we see how it goes.”

Brundle said he features in the forthcoming Hollywood film F1, starring Brad Pitt and produced by seven-time champion Sir Lewis Hamilton, having done some voiceover work with commentator David Croft.

“They wanted it to be credible and realistic in terms of Formula 1 action,” he said.

“So I don’t know the back story to it. All I know is the cinematography and the action is going to be extremely accurate and real.

“I think we’ve done 19 hours in a voiceover studio so far where we’re looking at it, so I’ve seen all of the track action.

“And then you finesse it, and then they’ll change the story slightly, and you go back in again and change the story again.

“It’s a big process.”