Ex-F1 driver and fan-favourite Sky Sports pundit Martin Brundle has revealed the origin story of how his now famous grid walks began.

Before Brundle graced our screens during grands prix weekends, he was busy taking part in them as a driver, with Tyrell, Williams, Brabham, Benetton and McLaren among the teams he raced for.

Between 1984 and 1996, the Englishman picked up nine podiums and now imparts his motorsport knowledge with on-screen punditry for Sky Sports F1.

Though the 66-year-old is loved for his authoritative and authentic delivery, he also brings wit to the British broadcaster, and occasionally a touch or chaos thanks to his grid walks.

Sky Sports acquired the rights to Formula 1 in 2012 but secured the privilege of being the sport’s exclusive live broadcaster ahead of the 2019 championship. Since then, one thing that has become a mainstay of Sky’s F1 weekend coverage is Brundle’s grid walks.

The ex-F1 racer has even admitted he doesn’t enjoy orchestrating his famous grid interviews these days, and who can blame him when he’s been involved in so many awkward celebrity interactions as a result.

But how did a former driver find himself vying for celebrity and driver attention on live TV just minutes before lights out?

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How Brundle’s iconic F1 Grid Walk was born

During an interview with his Sky Sports colleague Natalie Pinkham, Brundle revealed that the grid walk segment first took place at the 1997 British Grand Prix, but he wasn’t working for Sky at the time and instead delivered his now famous segment to the ITV cameras at Silverstone.

His former team-mate and 11-time grand prix winner Rubens Barrichello was his first interviewee.

“He was my team-mate the year before. That’s why I probably felt he’d talk to me,” Brundle explained.

“That’s when drivers used to come up to me in the next year or two and go, ‘You haven’t spoken to me on the grid. Come and find me. Why are you not talking to me on the grid?’

“Now they just look at me like I’m a double glazing salesman or something, or an insurance salesman with his foot in the door.”

Asked if he could take credit for the grid walk format, Brundle revealed: “Wasn’t my idea. I was at ITV at the time, and they said to me, the producers, ‘We’ve got an idea. Why don’t you walk down the grid and say what you see?’ Like, ‘All right, I’ll give it a go.'”

Brundle went on to explain how he began his first grid walk by delivering his piece to camera from within the cockpit, offering a rare view to ITV’s audience in the days before public onboards of what an F1 driver sees when sitting down on the grid.

“That’s when cars used to drive to the grid,” Brundle continued. “They don’t now, they stop at the back and get pushed through because Niki Lauda used to come through, cut his engine and freewheel through, which was terrifying.

“It was dangerous. So now they all come through on trolleys, and I wanted to point out to people that you sit on the floor basically. I always say it’s like laying in the bath looking over the taps, is how it looks when you’re in a Formula 1 car.

“And then Keith, my cameraman back in those days, put the camera over my shoulder, and I think people liked that because we didn’t have many onboard cameras and all the sort of toys and tools we have today to see what the drivers are really doing, and data and what have you.”

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F1 champion Max Verstappen will take part in the NLS5 round at the ADAC 24h Nurburgring Qualifiers today (Sunday, April 19).

Sunday’s race will go ahead despite the tragic seven-car crash on Saturday which claimed the life of 66-year-old driver Juha Miettinen. That race was subsequently cancelled after a lengthy red flag period.

Verstappen, who was not driving when Saturday’s tragedy occurred, had stunned the GT racing world on his first two appearances at the Nurburgring, securing pole position and the win at both the NLS9 round last year and the NLS2 round in March – although his No.3 Verstappen Racing team were disqualified from the latter event.

The Dutchman returned to the ‘Green Hell’, this time alongside Lucas Auer in the Mercedes-AMG GT3, taking part in the NLS4 round on Saturday.

Now, Verstappen goes again in a jam-packed Sunday schedule, which includes qualifying for the NLS5 race, Top Qualifying for the 24 hour race in May and the four-hour NLS5 race.

Here is how you can watch and what time Verstappen is in action at the Nurburgring.

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NLS5 Schedule and times at the ADAC 24h Nurburgring Qualifiers

The race proper will begin, following a minute’s silence to remember Juha Miettinen, at 13:00 local time (CEST), 12:00 UK time (BST), 07:00 (ET), 06:00 (CT) and 04:00 (PT). The race will last four hours.

Before that we have two qualifying sessions, the first conventional session for NLS5 (07:15-08:45 UK) and then a Top Qualifying session (09:40-10:40 UK).

For more detail on how these sessions work – and how they impact the 24 Hour race next month – check out our full guide.

How to watch Max Verstappen live at the Nurburgring

You can watch all of Verstappen’s GT exploits at the Nurburgring right here on GPFans on Sunday April 19. We have live streams for Qualifying, Top Qualifying and the race proper:

Nurburgring weather forecast for NLS5

A much cooler morning is expected on Sunday, with temperatures starting out at six degrees Celsius and only rising to 10 by the end of both qualifying sessions, with a five per cent chance of rain forecast.

For lights out at 13:00, temperatures remain at 11 degrees Celsius throughout the entire race distance, with the chance of rain rising to 30 per cent by the early evening.

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Reigning F1 world champion Lando Norris has described the new 2026 regulations as ‘frustrating’ after an outing at the Nurburgring this week.

Norris has been largely onside so far with the wholesale regulation changes in F1, while some of his rivals have been less than complimentary in the early stages of the 2026 season.

Max Verstappen is understood to be ‘seriously considering’ quitting the sport partly because of the new rules, which he has constantly berated and suggested that the new cars are ‘not fun’ to drive.

Lewis Hamilton, meanwhile, has described the new cars as the ‘best racing’ that he has experienced in his long, illustrious F1 career.

Norris has been driving his 2026 MCL40 this week despite the fact that we are currently amidst a five-week break from the sport due to the cancellations of the Bahrain and Saudi Arabian Grands Prix.

He has been taking his 2026 car around the Nurburgring Grand Prix circuit as part of a Pirelli dry-tyre test, with both Mercedes and McLaren present at the former home of the European, German and Eifel Grands Prix.

And following that event, Norris revealed his thoughts on the new 2026 regulations after two months of F1 action in the new cars.

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Norris at odds over F1 2026 cars

“These cars are certainly very different to the cars from last year, and the differences are quite complex,” Norris told McLaren’s official website. “Some of which I enjoy, some of which I’ve found a bit more difficult so far.

“Last year we had loads of downforce, cars that really felt like they were on rails when we got them dialled in and what felt like never-ending speed, however when you lost grip, that was it, you were just losing time at best or heading for the gravel. That could be quite frustrating as it didn’t feel like you could make as much of a difference yourself as a driver, you needed the car underneath you and needed to ensure you stayed within the limits of the car.

“This year the cars are much much lower downforce and much more on the limit. You can catch slides more easily, and the slightly lower grip makes for a very exciting car to drive. As a car, I’m enjoying driving them, they remind me of some of the cars I drove coming up through the junior series, and I say that as a big compliment, you really feel like you can make a difference.

“I’ve said before that it’s not the car I’m struggling with, it’s the bit behind us that I’m not enjoying as much – the power unit regulations. I had a scenario in Japan where the battery deployment triggered, even though I didn’t really want it to, and I had to overtake Lewis as a result.

“That meant I was then a sitting duck on the next straight, where I had actually wanted to use the battery. For me, that’s taking too much control away from the driver, but I know that the FIA and all the stakeholders of the sport are looking into it: there has been good dialogue with the FIA on this topic, so I am confident that something will be done for when we go racing in Miami again.”

Will changes be made to the FIA regulations before the Miami GP?

It’s likely that we will see some changes to regulations ahead of the next race on the calendar, the Miami Grand Prix at the start of May.

The FIA met earlier this month to discuss if any changes needed to be made to the sporting regulations, and they confirmed that it would be one of three meetings to take place ahead of the Miami Grand Prix in May.

F1’s governing body revealed in a statement that it was ‘generally agreed’ that ‘tweaks’ should be made to the new regulations, and they also revealed a deadline for when a decision will be made, April 20.

They’ve suggested that the April 20 meeting will be to go through the proposed options for energy management rule tweaks, agreeing on a consensus for the way in which the season will proceed.

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