In the thrilling atmosphere of last Sunday’s British Grand Prix at Silverstone, an awkward moment unfolded between F1 commentator Martin Brundle and legendary Queen guitarist, Sir Brian May.
The encounter took place during Brundle's famous pre-race grid walk when the Sky F1 commentator spotted May, accompanied by his grandson and chatting with the Mercedes crew.
Never one to miss a good chance to chat with a rare celebrity, much less one bringing a touch of rock and roll royalty to the grid, the former F1 driver approached May with a cheery, "Brian are you up for a chat with Sky?"
May, appearing hesitant, politely declined, insisting he knew little about F1, leaving Brundle to expertly salvage the situation.
“You don’t need to know anything. Nice to see you on the grid, thank you very much,” he replied as he scrambled away in search of another respondent.
“We don’t want to make life difficult for him. He said he doesn’t know enough about F1. I respect that. He doesn’t want to stand there and pretend he does. That’s absolutely fine.”
Meanwhile, May himself later took to his website to express his delight with his day at the races, and to address the misunderstanding.
“I had a great day at Silverstone thanks to the kindness of the Mercedes team and my grandson had some truly historic birthday moments,” May noted.
“And by the way, apologies to Mr Brundle. Absolutely no intention of snubbing you. All you see is someone who is nervous of speaking about something of which he has little understanding and anxious to get to where he is supposed to be.”
On Wednesday, Brundle capped it all off with a social media apology, taking full responsibility for the awkwardness.
“It is me who should be apologising to Sir Brian May, not him to me for the gridwalk on Sunday at Silverstone,” Brundle wrote on X.
“I didn’t address him as Sir Brian, and I shouldn’t have approached him twice when he wasn’t up for a chat on live TV. Nobody is ever obliged to talk to me on the grid, or anywhere else for that matter.”
In the end, both Brundle and May showed their true colors – classy and with a great sense of humor.
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