Former Top Gear presenter Jeremy Clarkson has revealed that he “feels sorry” for ex-F1 driver Martin Brundle, who carries out a grid walk prior to every race for Sky Sports F1, where he attempts to interview various drivers and celebrities.
Clarkson is a notable figure in British media and is a well-known Formula 1 fan, with him having been in attendance at the season-opening 2023 Bahrain Grand Prix.
Brundle spoke to Clarkson on the grid before the race, where the former BBC presenter admitted it was his first time at a race for a very long-time.
Clarkson has been a huge critic of the sport over the years but purely because he wants the pinnacle of motorsport to succeed, something it’s certainly doing financially at the moment.
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The presenter reflected on his time in Bahrain and how he came to the conclusion that F1 “has only ever really worked on television”.
Clarkson noted how “lucky” you have to be in order to actually see any of the action, making it a better sport to watch through television.
He went on to discuss the impact hit Netflix docuseries ‘Drive to Survive’ has had on the sport, with him having revealed that the grid nowadays before a race is “overflowing with bewildered celebrities”.
Most of which have no clue who Brundle is, something which has resulted in some awkward interviews over recent years for the ex-driver.
“And then along came Netflix and its hugely successful Drive to Survive series,” Clarkson wrote in his column for The Sunday Times.
“This enabled us to meet not just the drivers but also the team bosses. I know that clever editing created storylines where there were none, and I know that series five is a bit “yee-hah” American, but suddenly we had goodies and baddies.
“And even more suddenly we found we were able to talk about the sport to our teenage daughters.
“My youngest had no interest in motorsport at all until Netflix came along. And now she knows Charles Leclerc’s inside leg measurements. And wants, more than anything in life, to meet Pierre Gasly.
“And, better still, the whole ethos of the sport has changed. Under Bernie Ecclestone and Ron Dennis and Frank Williams it was all about invisible tech. Small things. Tyre warmers and fiddly add-ons that made the car a millionth of a second faster round any given lap but which no one in the real world cared about.
“Now, though, the rules have been rewritten so that cars can dice with one another and an overtaking move can last for four corners or more. It’s a sport for the fans, not the sponsors and the backroom tech geeks.
“I’d like to say this is why I decided to go to the race in Bahrain this year. But there were other factors as well. For example, I’d had an invite from the crown prince to come and stay with him in his palace. And a neighbour offered me a lift over there in his private jet.
“These things can sway a man, which is why you probably saw me on the grid before the race talking to Martin Brundle.
“I feel sorry for the poor chap these days. In the past he’d rush up and down the grid before the action started, trying to grab a few words with the Eurotrash-helmet men that no one at home knew. But we do know them now, so there’s no point.
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“And anyway he couldn’t find a driver even if he wanted to because, post-Netflix, the grid is now invariably filled to overflowing with bewildered celebrities who don’t know who he is. And who just want to meet that guy from Haas [team principal Guenther Steiner] who swears a lot.
“I could see the look of relief in Martin’s eye when he found me because at last he could talk to someone who has stuck with F1, albeit from the comfort of my own sofa, since I was 13 years old.
“Someone who would list an obscure French Canadian [Gilles Villeneuve] as his favourite driver of all time and who could talk (very quietly) about why the Benetton that Ayrton Senna was racing against at Imola on that fateful day in 1994 was so unbelievably fast.”