Martin Brundle ditched his traditional F1 grid walk in a major change to the schedule at the Belgian Grand Prix. Instead of talking to celebrities, the Sky Sports F1 host decided to speak to fans packed into the grandstands.
The decision comes just weeks after Brundle was brutally snubbed by actress Cara Delevingne at the British Grand Prix. However, Brundle’s move is not thought to be a reaction to what happened at Silverstone.
The ex-F1 star made it clear he wanted to give back to supporters who had sat out in the rain throughout the weekend. He started the package by interviewing an Irish father and son who were celebrating an 18th birthday at Spa-Francorchamps.
But he quickly ran into difficulty after realising much of the crowd didn’t understand what he was saying. After being met with bemused faces, he quickly turned to the audience and exclaimed: “Who can speak English?”
F1 supporters backed Brundle’s idea with many praising the channel for giving a spotlight to “real fans” trackside. @chris2007_x said: “This is amazing much better than talking to pointless celebrities that don’t really appreciate the sport props to Martin.”
@MrCallumx posted: “Love this! Celebs not wanting to talk, this is better!” @Alex_Bobsleigh commented: “Great to see @MBrundleF1 crowd walk! It makes a great change to see the proper fans & not so called celebrities on the grid who show little respect to Martin!”
@SarahDrake67 remarked: “Much better. Well done Sky Sports F1 keep Martin with the fans not the celebs who rudely ignore him!” But, some viewers appeared to have been left disappointed that Brundle was not on the grid moments ahead of the race.
@Retroscopic1 wrote: “We can have a fan walk at any time over the weekend, it doesn’t need to be instead of the #gridwalk We can have both!” @Memecastle_Utd added: “Let’s never do it again though.”
Delevingne was criticised by viewers after she snubbed Brundle ahead of the race at Silverstone earlier this month. After the 30-year-old refused to speak, Brundle sarcastically replied: “Oh well, I’m sure it would have been extremely interesting.”
Delevingne later told her social media followers that she was “told to say no” by an F1 representative.
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