Formula 1 isn’t Formula 1 without Martin Brundle’s pre-race grid walks, and they’ve rarely been any funnier than the one that occurred ahead of the 2022 Miami Grand Prix.

Round five of the 2022 F1 season has found itself in south Florida for the first time and in a sport that’s normally star-studded things have gone to a whole new level.

Sky F1

Celebrities from David Beckham to Michael Jordan and Michelle Obama have been in attendance, but when it comes to motorsport, they have nothing on Brundle.

A former teammate to greats such as Michael Schumacher and Ayrton Senna, the Sky Sports pundit is a fixture of Grands Prix weekends but has never covered one like this.

There was plenty of fear the presenter may again struggle with music stars, but it was in fact athletes, getting not just the player wrong, but also the sport.

Brundle thought he was interviewing star Kansas City Chiefs NFL quarterback Patrick Mahomes, but didn’t get a reply when he approached.

After a quick chat about what it’s like to be in the middle of the grid, Brundle suddenly realised his mistake, presumably via a voice in his earpiece.

“OK. It’s not Patrick,” Brundle said. “That’s why he ignored me in the beginning.

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“What is your name Sir?” Brundle added politely.

“Paolo Banchero,” the basketball player replied.

“Right well, I thought I was talking to somebody else. Sorry about that,” an embarrassed Brundle responded.

Banchero was selected 1st overall by the Orlando Magic in the 2022 NBA draft just over a month later and has since become Rookie of the Year.

However, he didn’t seem too offended and even managed an exchange with Mahomes on X – formerly known as Twitter.

However, the drama didn’t end there, with Brundle then meeting some music stars.

“This is a man called DJ Khaled,” Brundle calmly said as the 64-year-old approached the global hip hop superstar.

After Brundle introduced himself, DJ Khaled replied: “Everything good.

“We in Miami, this is my home, the best city in the world and the whole world is here for this beautiful event, F1, family, fun, good energy, superstars, icons.”

After a brief interruption, a rather shocked Brundle left it at that.

“I’m not going to add any more to that,” he said. “Beautifully summed up, Sir.”

After manoeuvring his way round the main straight, Brundle then stumbled across another music A-lister in the shape of Pharrell Williams, who gave his backing to Lewis Hamilton.

“I love Ferrari cars, but Lewis is my brother,” Williams said.

Luckily for Pharrell, his two loves will confirm at Miami 2025 when Hamilton swaps his Mercedes team for the Scuderia.

Source: TalkSport.com Motorsport