Sky Sports F1 commentator Martin Brundle stood in the grandeur of Windsor Castle on Tuesday, his heart swelling with pride after receiving an OBE for services to motor racing and sports broadcasting.
The honour was presented by the Prince of Wales, marking a proud moment for the 65-year-old who has spent decades in the sport — both behind the wheel and in front of the camera.
Brundle, a veteran of 158 grands prix and a nine-time podium finisher, has become a beloved figure in Formula 1’s modern media landscape, known not just for his expert analysis but also his famously unpredictable pre-race grid walks.
His OBE was announced in the King’s New Year’s Honours list.
A Career of Two Halves – and Two Tributes
Speaking to Sky Sports News after the ceremony, Brundle expressed both pride and humility at receiving the honour, crediting many others who have shared the journey with him.
"It made me feel very lucky and very privileged because always something like this, you receive on behalf of an awful lot of other people," said the former Grand Prix driver.
"Because either they were designing and creating and fixing my racing cars, or working with us in the broadcasting industry."
©Instagram/SkySportsF1
Brundle highlighted the team effort involved in both his careers – first as a driver and now as a pundit.
"You can't do anything on your own at the level of Formula 1. I've been very lucky to have two careers in F1 as a driver and a broadcaster, which this award has been presented for."
And the moment he found out about the award?
"When the letter came through just before Christmas, I was ecstatic."
From Norfolk to the Grid – and Windsor Castle
The OBE ceremony also brought back memories of Brundle’s first encounter with Prince William at the 1992 British Grand Prix.
"He came along with his mother and his brother," Brundle recalled. "We met them just after the drivers' briefing on race day.
“We're West Norfolk people and he spends quite a bit of time up there, so plenty to talk about. He told me a few other things, but I guess they're private."
©CahierArchive
Beyond racing accolades, Brundle is known to millions of fans for his spontaneous and sometimes chaotic pre-race grid walks – a staple of Formula 1 broadcasting that has earned its own cult following.
"We're only there to tell the story, the stories about the cars and the drivers, and we're there to explain what is a fast-moving and highly complex sport," Brundle said, reflecting on the essence of his role.
"We get in amongst it, we've got access, we've got opportunities, we know everybody pretty well."
Read also: Brundle honoured with OBE for F1 and broadcasting legacy
He described the growing intensity of the grid scene, particularly at glitzy events like Las Vegas.
"But then the grid, it just gets busier, there must have been 1,000 people on there in Vegas. I can't see anybody half the time, sometimes I can't even see an F1 car.
“We try to find people, we talk, and I think because it's a bit edgy and sometimes it fails miserably, I think people are kind of living it, if I'm having a good day or a bad day."
Surprisingly, despite being a fixture in F1 broadcasts for decades, Brundle has never actually watched his own grid walks.
"I've never watched one in 27 years of doing it because it's not my natural habitat to run around being cheeky and interrupting people, but it's sort of grown a life of its own,” he said.
"What it was put in for originally was to ramp up the excitement before the Grand Prix. The cars go to the grid, it calms down a bit and then let's get some energy going.
"The chance to talk to a driver literally before they pull their crash helmets on and zoom down to the first corner is unique in sport."
With his proud OBE now in hand and his signature microphone never far away, Martin Brundle remains one of F1’s most enduring and endearing voices – a professor of the paddock, with a knack for keeping the grid grounded and the fans informed.
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