Basketball and American Football are two of the most popular sports in the USA but it seems that former F1 driver Martin Brundle does not follow either. Ahead of the Miami GP in 2022, he got confused between two of the biggest stars of the NBA and the NFL during his famous grid walk.
Brundle’s grid walks feature him walking around the track before the start of the race and asking questions to people standing or walking around. Often, he has funny encounters with celebrities on the track, which has increased over the last few years due to the increase in F1’s popularity.
The inaugural Miami GP saw some of the biggest sporting stars travel to the circuit. Among them were Paolo Banchero and Patrick Mahomes. The latter was not an NBA player at the time but was projected to be the number one draft pick for the year. Banchero meanwhile was already one of the top quarterbacks in the NFL playing for the Kansas City Chiefs.
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Martin Brundle mistook Banchero for Patrick Mahomes
Banchero became the number one draft pick in the 2022 NBA draft when the Orlando Magic selected him. However, he was one of the most popular basketball players in the country long before that because of his impressive junior career performances.
However, when Brundle saw the 20-year-old on track, he approached him and asked him questions thinking he was Mahomes. Banchero himself looked incredibly surprised and F1 Twitter reacted hilariously to it!
Martin Brundle thought Paolo Banchero was Patrick Mahomes pic.twitter.com/YlQuouMSuV
— (@sportingnews) May 8, 2022
In fact, the Orlando Magic Twitter admin did not let the former McLaren driver forget about his embarassing moment.
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Orlando Magic reminds Brundle of embarrassment after Mahomes’ super bowl win
On Sunday, Mahomes and the Kansas City Chiefs won the 2023 Super Bowl that made the former a trending figure all over social media. At the young age of 27, he is already one of the greatest NFL quarterbacks of all time, and has a lot of time to create even more history.
The Orlando Magic however, could not let an opportunity to roast Brundle pass. They brought up the famous picture of Brundle approaching Banchero in Miami, and put up a caption saying, “Congrats Patrick.” Banchero certainly looked puzzled when Brundle thought he was Mahomes!
congrats patrick pic.twitter.com/xsDzcatYql
— Orlando Magic (@OrlandoMagic) February 13, 2023
Another person to take a dig at Brundle was Miami Grand Prix’s Twitter admin who suggested that the Magic admin should be getting a raise because of the post.