Martin Brundle’s baffling Miami GP grid walk leaves celebrities and TV viewers equally flummoxed

Perhaps the stickiest moment when Brundle strode up to a very large American sportsman bloke and – sure, why not? – figured that he must be the NFL star and recent Super Bowl MVP Patrick Mahomes, and interrogated him thusly. It was, in fact, somebody called Paolo Banchero, a basketballer. Big Paolo, you have to say, took it in his 13-foot stride.

A tough assignment for Brundle. There seemed to be so few familiar faces; oh how he must have wished that he was back at Silverstone, where you’re looking at a more family saloon sort of a ride: your Rory McIlroys, your Ginger Spices, Gordon Ramsay at the absolute outer limits. 

Not so Miami. Divided by a common language, they say. A nerve-shredding ride. Driving a car at 200 mph must be a cakewalk by comparison.