Martin Brundle’s junior career showed a lot of promise, but like many others, he never realized his full potential upon reaching F1. Having gone wheel-to-wheel with Ayrton Senna on multiple occasions during the 1983 British F3 Championship and falling short by just nine points, Brundle was deemed the next big thing in racing.
The King’s Lynn-born driver made his debut in the same season as Senna, 1984, with Tyrrell. But things got off to a rocky start right from the beginning. During practice at the Dallas GP that year, Brundle broke both his ankles—the damage so severe that doctors even considered amputating his left one. He sat out the rest of the season and spent two more years with Tyrrell before becoming a journeyman, driving for a variety of teams: Zakspeed, Williams, McLaren, Brabham, Benetton, Ligier, and Jordan.
In a career that spanned until 1996, Brundle had just nine podiums to show for himself.
Today, he acknowledges that he fell short of what he could have achieved, something he considers his biggest regret. In a conversation with Sir Jackie Stewart’s grandson, Lucas Stewart, Brundle said, “I didn’t deliver my full potential, obviously, because there were days when I was teammates with Schumacher and I beat him, and there were days when I was rivals with Senna and I beat him.”
Beating both Michael Schumacher and Ayrton Senna isn’t something many can boast about. In fact, Brundle revealed that defeating Senna had a mental toll on the legendary Sao Paulo-born driver.
#TBT – Ayrton Senna & Martin Brundle pic.twitter.com/aO73PENetb
— Formula One World (@FormulaOneWorld) November 21, 2019
So, what stopped him from winning races and competing for the title in F1? Brundle believes there were two reasons.
The first was his poor decisions regarding team choices, and the second was the pressure of competing at the pinnacle of motorsport. “Didn’t get myself in the right cars, and when I did, maybe let the pressure get to me a little bit,” he explained.
With the likes of Schumacher and Senna going on to win not just dozens of races but multiple championships, Brundle admitted to being incredibly frustrated.
Stewart then asked Brundle if there were any team moves he could have made that might have changed the course of his career. The 65-year-old replied that had he actually gotten the Williams drive in 1993—which Frank Williams had promised him—he potentially could have achieved some level of success.
The Grove-based outfit eventually decided to sign Damon Hill, who went on to win the title with Williams in 1996. With Hill winning 21 of his 22 races with the team, it’s possible Brundle could have enjoyed similar success had he been given the seat instead.
So, if Frank had assured Brundle of a seat, what changed? Brundle said he never bothered asking Frank the reason, as he didn’t want to hear it—presumably because of how disappointed and frustrated he would have been.
