Martin Brundle was invited to join McLaren as it undertook a Testing of Previous Cars Programme at the Circuit of The Americas, alongside Brad Pitt.
While Brundle was chuffed at the chance to get behind the wheel again, McLaren was pleased to have gained some critical insight from the pundit.
Martin Brundle’s advice to McLaren
The Formula 1 world has been abuzz this summer thanks to the hype brought on by F1: The Movie, a summer blockbuster starring actors Brad Pitt and Damson Idris as F1 drivers.
Naturally, Pitt was a near-constant presence in the paddock in 2024 as filming wrapped up, but it wasn’t until a few weeks ago that the actor got the chance to get behind the wheel of a proper Formula 1 car.
Pitt was invited out to Circuit of The Americas to turn laps behind the wheel of a McLaren MCL60 alongside former F1 driver turned Sky Sports pundit Martin Brundle.
Brundle was naturally buzzing at the chance to get behind the wheel; joining a star like Pitt was an added bonus.
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“He was good,” Brundle said of the actor during the Sky Sports F1 broadcast in the build-up to the British Grand Prix.
“You know, he was solid out there and it’s not easy to jump in. There’s a lot going on and, I said in the piece, like my mental overload of, you know, suddenly the scenery’s coming at you and you’ve got a thousand horsepower under your right foot, and you just get a little beep in your ear and just keep pulling through the gears. Then you open the DRS and the world seems to be on warp speed. Then you’ve gotta brake somewhere and you’re not really sure where. And then to try to talk while you’re doing it, but it’s a magnificent experience.”
Brundle’s enthusiasm wasn’t simply shared with Pitt; he also took a moment to “thank Zak [Brown] and Andrea [Stella] and the whole team, actually – testing previous cars — that’s gold dust in terms of lappery.
“Obviously Lando and Oscar were out there, too, and Alex Dunne was out there.
“So to give the car up to us and me and Brad was very brave of you, Zak, McLaren, and very generous of you!”
Brundle was able to address his thanks directly to McLaren Racing CEO Brown, who responded, “It was our pleasure, Martin.
“I’m a big fan, and we knew you’d bring her back in one piece.
“But actually, Andrea and I were speaking about it the other day; some of the feedback that you gave us on driver mindset stuff, we thought was quite interesting and quite useful.
“So we got value out of it ourselves as well!”
It’s not clear exactly what advice Brundle offered to the team in papaya, but it must have been good!
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