Martin Brundle

 ( Www.martinbrundle.com Official Website ) 

In he returned to Formula One full-time with the returning Brabham team who would be running the Judd V8 engine. But while the former champions were initially competitive, with Brundle running third at Monaco until a flat battery forced him to pit for a replacement while his teammate Stefano Modena finishing third, Brabham were unable to recapture their early past success and Brundle, who had failed to pre-qualify for both the Canadian and French races during the season opted to move back into the sports car arena for 1990. His 1990 24 Hours of Le Mans victory rejuvenated his career, but still a top-line race seat in Formula One eluded him. As well as contesting races in sports prototypes, Brundle also contested the American IROC series in 1990. He took victory at the temporary circuit at Burke Lakefront Airport (the only IROC victory for a British driver) and finished third in the overall standings. In 1991 he rejoined Brabham, but the squad had fallen even further down the grid and good results were sparse.

In 1992 he had a productive season, with a strong finish to the year. He came close to a win at Canada, where having overtaken Schumacher and closing on leader Gerhard Berger, the transmission failed. He never outqualified teammate Michael Schumacher, but made up places with excellent starts (sixth to third at Silverstone), outraced the German at Imola, Montreal, Magny-Cours and Silverstone, and scored a notable second place at Monza. At Spa, Brundle went by when Schumacher went off the track. Schumacher noticed blisters on his teammate's tyres on his return to the circuit and came in for slicks, a move that won him the race. Had Brundle not been distracted he would have pitted as planned at the end of that lap, with victory the most likely result. To the shock of the F1 paddock, Brundle found himself dropped from Benetton for 1993, Italian Riccardo Patrese taking his place. He came very close to a seat with world champions Williams, but in the end Damon Hill got the drive instead. Still in demand within F1, Brundle raced for Equipe Ligier in 1993. More points finishes and a fine third at Imola were achieved in a car without active suspension. With finishing 7th in the World Drivers' Championship behind the two Williams drivers Alain Prost (1st) and Damon Hill (3rd), McLaren team leader Ayrton Senna (2nd), the Benetton drivers Michael Schumacher (4th) and Riccardo Patrese (5th) and the Ferrari driver Jean Alesi (6th), Brundle was the most successful driver who did not have an active suspension system in his car and Ligier were the most successful team without an active suspension. For 1994 Brundle was in the frame for the vacant McLaren seat alongside Mika Häkkinen. McLaren were hopeful of re-signing Alain Prost, who had retired at the end of 1993 after winning his fourth championship title, but decided not to renege on his retirement in March, and Brundle got the drive, beating out McLaren test driver Philippe Alliot. He was confirmed less than two weeks before the season-opening 1994 Brazilian Grand Prix.

Joining the team was a case of bad timing in many ways. McLaren were on a downturn and throughout 1994 were unable to win a Grand Prix for the first time since . The team's V10 Peugeot engines were unreliable, as was to be expected from a debuting engine supplier. In the first race Brundle narrowly escaped serious injury or worse in a spectacular accident involving Jos Verstappen; his helmet took a heavy blow as the Benetton cartwheeled overhead. At Aida his engine blew whilst running third while at Silverstone his engine appeared to explode just as the starting lights turned green. In reality the culprit was a clutch that cracked spilling its lubricants on top of the hot engine causing a spectacular fire. The engine, once cleaned, worked without problem. Another sure third place was lost on the last lap in Hungary. Nevertheless, when the car was reliable, Brundle put in strong performances that season, most notably at Monaco where he finished second to Schumacher.

Having had poor luck and with Mansell signed to McLaren for 1995, Brundle once more raced for Ligier that year, although not for the full season. To appease Mugen-Honda he had to share the second seat with Aguri Suzuki, a move denounced by many commentators and fans. He impressed however, with a strong fourth at Magny-Cours and what would be his last F1 podium, at Spa, being the highlights. In 1996 he teamed up with Rubens Barrichello at Jordan and enjoyed a good season, despite a slow start and a spectacular crash at Melbourne's inaugural GP, with regular points, fourth his best result. He finished fifth in the 1996 Japanese Grand Prix, which was his last Grand Prix in Formula One.

Brundle achieved 9 podiums, and scored a total of 98 championship points, with a best championship finish of 6th in 1992. He was especially strong on street circuits and similarly slow-speed, twisty courses – Monaco, Adelaide and the Hungaroring each produced 4 points finishes for him.

For his television work Brundle has won the RTS Television Sports Award for best Sports Pundit in 1998, 1999, 2005 and 2006. In 2005 the judges described him as:

The production company responsible for ITV's F1 coverage, North One Television, also won the Sports Innovation Award for its Insight features, presented by Brundle. His pre-race grid walks are now customary and began at the 1997 British Grand Prix. Discussing the return of Formula One to the BBC in 2009, The Times described Brundle "as the greatest TV analyst in this or any other sport."

Before becoming a regular commentator, Brundle was also part of the 1995 BBC commentary team whenever Aguri Suzuki was driving the Equipe Ligier-Mugen Honda, such as the 1995 San Marino Grand Prix. He also commentated on Eurosport for a handful of qualifying sessions in 1995.

With Steve Rider busy covering the England versus Kazakhstan 2010 FIFA World Cup Group 6 qualification match, Brundle co-commentated and presented coverage of the 2008 Japanese Grand Prix at Fuji Speedway.

During the commentary of 2023 Spanish Grand Prix, Martin Brundle used the controversial term "Chinaman" to refer to Chinese driver Zhou Guanyu, leading to accusations of racial discrimination against Brundle. Chinese media outlet Global Times wrote to Sky Sports inquiring about the matter. In their reply, Sky Sports stated that Martin Brundle had been reminded to "exercise caution in his language during live broadcasts." Until 5 January 2024, Brundle has not formally apologized or responded to the issue.

In 2008 he came out of retirement to drive in the Formula Palmer Audi Championship alongside his son Alex Brundle, who was a series regular. He scored three top-eight finishes from the three races in which he took part.

Brundle came out of retirement again to race for United Autosports in the 2011 Daytona 24 Hours, sharing a Ford-powered Riley with Zak Brown, Mark Patterson and former Ligier and Brabham teammate Blundell; the team finished fourth overall.

In June 2011, shortly before the 2011 European Grand Prix, Brundle completed a one-off Formula One test for the series' tyre supplier Pirelli at Jerez. He completed a total of 70 laps on all of their tyre compounds, with the results and events of the day aired before the 2011 Hungarian Grand Prix.

In June 2012, Brundle made a return to competitive racing at the 24 Hours of Le Mans, teaming up with son Alex to race a Greaves Motorsport-run Zytek-Nissan LMP2. His first appearance at the French classic in over a decade, Brundle worked hard to get back into adequate physical condition – using his son's race-training exercise programme for a year in preparation. Their car finished 15th out of the 56 runners and 8th in class, completing 340 laps.

Brundle presented a Documentary film on British television in 1998 called Great Escapes, which showed generally live recordings, and occasionally reconstructions, of stories where human beings managed to somehow survive in face of various dangers or perils. It ran for one series on ITV.

In 2004 he released his first book Working the Wheel. The title is a reference to his 1996 crash in Melbourne.

In June 2013 he released his second book The Martin Brundle Scrapbook,