Martin Brundle reveals backlash for Sky Sports F1 career decision

Brundle in white shirt holding red and blue Sky Sports microphone with red and blue contrasting background — Photo: © IMAGO

F1 Legends

Martin Brundle reveals backlash for Sky Sports F1 career decision

Martin Brundle also raced in F1 between 1984-1996

Sam Cook Digital Journalist

Sports Journalist who has been covering motorsport since 2023

Tuesday 19 May 2026 22:55

F1 legend Martin Brundle has revealed that he received a fair amount of stick following a Sky Sports F1 career decision.

Brundle has been a fixture of Sky's coverage since they gained the rights to the sport back in 2012, and currently acts as a co-commentator alongside David Croft.

But Brundle's broadcasting career began way before then.

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After retiring from F1 in 1996, Brundle was soon back on our screens with a microphone in his hand, with his iconic grid walk segment first airing at the 1997 British Grand Prix,

That was with ITV, and his former team-mate and 11-time grand prix winner Rubens Barrichello was his first interviewee.

Brundle then moved on to BBC, and was their lead commentator for the 2011 season, but F1 TV rights in the UK were beginning to change.

Sky Sports F1 first gained the rights to show the sport for the 2012 season, and the number of races on free-to-air TV in the UK began to dwindle, to the point where now there is just one being shown each year, the British GP on Channel 4.

Sky recently signed a new deal to stay as the TV rights holders until 2034, reportedly worth around £1billion, and Brundle has now opened up on the impact of the broadcaster on the sport.

“Sky has been very good to Formula 1 and Formula 1's been very good to Sky,” Brundle told the F1 Show.

“I think I joined in 2012… took a bit of stick at the time for daring to leave the BBC but I saw a commitment from Sky to Formula 1 for the future.”

Brundle further added: “As soon as they told me we were going to do a dedicated Sky F1 channel I thought, ‘right this is serious, I need to be part of this,' and I love being part of it.”

Brundle's racing career

Before his broadcasting days, Brundle was also an F1 racer between 1984-1996, making his insights even more valuable.

Brundle never won an F1 race, but was on the podium nine times. His most successful single season was while driving for Benetton in 1992 when he scored five podiums and 38 points.

That was by far his best total, allowing him to finish sixth in the drivers' championship that year as part of his best run in the sport as he was seventh in 1993 and 1994 while driving for Ligier and McLaren respectively.

Brundle’s last season was in 1996, and though he had options to continue to race beyond that, he took his opportunity to be part of ITV’s broadcast team.

From there he was able to focus on Le Mans, entering the 24-hour race on five different occasions, with a best finish of 15th in 2012.

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