Martin Brundle reminded of violent F1 crash when brake pad fell off at Imola

Legendary F1 broadcaster Martin Brundle has been reminded of a violent crash he had during his own racing career.

Nowadays, Brundle is regarded as one of the finest pundits in sport while his pre-race grid walks are loved around the world. He was a talented driver himself, racing for the likes of Benetton, Jordan, Tyrrell and Brabham. He is regarded as one of the best racers never to win a Grand Prix and enjoyed great success in endurance racing too.

Brundle entered F1 during an incredibly dangerous period when drivers were often seriously injured and occasionally killed. The Norfolk-born racer had his fair share of smashes, including one early on his career during qualifying for the San Marino Grand Prix at Imola in 1985.

READ MORE: Martin Brundle ‘almost had head taken off’ as he was towed back to pits at Hungarian GP

A video of the crash was tweeted to Brundle this week. The clip starts with smoke pouring from the wheels of Brundle’s Tyrrell at the end of a straight. The car then careered across the gravel trap, barely slowing down, before spearing nose first into a tyre wall.

Brundle’s head can be seen jerking violently forward and then back at the point of impact. Remarkably, he avoided series injury, qualified for the race and was then classified to have finished the race despite not making the chequered flag after running out of fuel in the final laps.

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Responding to the clip of the crash on Twitter, Brundle explained what happened: “Rear brake pad fell out down the straight and brake pedal went to the floor. Don’t know how we used to survive those cars. Ken Tyrrell and gang did a walking scan of the long straight to find out what happened and a fan handed the brake pad to him.”

Brundle went on to finish ninth at Imola, with just 10 cars finishing the race after a catalogue of mechanical errors throughout the grid.

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