Sky Sports Formula 1 pundit Martin Brundle has revealed the troubles he encounters attempting to speak with drivers like Lewis Hamilton on the grid before a race.
The grid walks have been a staple of the sport’s coverage since 1997, with the first one taking place at that season’s British Grand Prix at Silverstone.
Brundle meets many celebrities and VIP guests whilst conducting interviews on the pit straight, but he often finds time to speak to at least a couple of drivers as well.
However, as of late, Brundle has struggled to catch and grab a few words with the stars of F1, prompting him to recall how much simpler it used to be at the start.
“Literally, I was the only person on the grid with one camera,” he told the Sky F1 podcast.
“And I remember sitting down and saying, ‘This is the driver’s eye view when they come to the grid’, with the camera over my shoulder, because you sit on the floor of a Formula 1 car, and it just grew from there really.
“It was so easy back in those days, so easy, because there was nobody else to compete with.
“Drivers would stop by and have a good old chat.
“I remember talking once to Michael Schumacher and Gerhard Berger at the same time and could do what I wanted and go where I wanted to.
“The grid was deserted, generally speaking, back then.
“But the grid now has, what, it looks like it’s got 2000 people on it from what I can work out.”
F1 drivers ‘don’t want to be bothered on the grid’
Grid walks are loved by the F1 community and it has provided many iconic moments over the last few decades.
Brundle has had many memorable incidences on the grid, one of them being the lucky nipple tweak he used to do with 2009 F1 champion Jenson Button.
The Sky F1 Podcast host Matt Baker reminded Brundle of that tradition to which laughed and replied: “I don’t know where that came from”.
But now it seems we are getting fewer of these interactions because of the sheer amount of people on the grid and the preferences of the drivers.
The ex-Benetton driver added: “A good grid walk adds a little bit of important information about the day, the race, the cars, or one of the cars, or one of the drivers in particular.
“Talk to a celeb or two, must talk to some drivers.
“I am really disappointed if I don’t get to see some drivers, which is getting near impossible, actually, to find a driver on the grid.
“A lot of them, like Lewis and George [Russell], go back to the stations in the garage and do a debrief, I mean, on headphones.
“And a lot of the drivers do. They got off the grid, if it’s hot especially.
“They need to go and drink, they need to go to the bathroom and they don’t want to be bothered on the grid.”
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