F1weekly podcast # 489

Photo: Peter Brazier

F1weekly podcast number 489

Motosports Mondial with Nasir Hameed and..

Special repeat Interview Martin and Alex Brundle!

Early Racing Career

Brundle had an unorthodox route to Formula 1. He began his racing career at the age of 12, competing in grass track racing, in the Norfolk village of Pott Row. In 1975, he moved to Hot Rod racing and received ‘Star grade’ status. In 1979, he started single seaters with Formula Ford. During this time, he also raced Tom Walkinshaw’s BMW race cars, achieving second against a field of international drivers at Snetterton. He won the BMW championship in 1980 and partnered Sir Stirling Moss in the BP/Audi team of 1981. In 1982, he moved up to Formula 3 achieving five poles and two wins in his debut season. He won the Grovewood Award as the most promising Commonwealth driver. The next year, he battled Ayrton Senna, for the F3 championship, which Brundle eventually lost on the final laps of the last race. In 1984, he was promoted to Formula One.

Formula One (1984–1987)

His Formula One career began with Tyrrell in 1984. He put in a number of aggressive and fast drives, finishing fifth in his first race at Brazil and then second at Detroit. At the Dallas Grand Prix, Brundle broke his ankles and both feet in a crash during a practice session. Then Tyrrell were disqualified from the world championship in 1984 because of a technical infringement, wiping his achievements for that season from the record books.

For the next two seasons he remained with Tyrrell, but without a works engine supply the team struggled against the works engine teams. In 1987 he switched to Zakspeed, but managed only two points, the car unable to compete with the frontrunners. These two points were the only ones in the team’s history.

[audio:http://www.podtrac.com/pts/redirect.mp3/mp3.f1weekly.com/podcasts/03-10-11f1weekly489.mp3]