‘Blood pouring out of your hands’ – Martin Brundle recalls grim Monaco GP experience
Martin Brundle has represented ITV, the BBC and Sky over the course of a glittering broadcasting career
Back when Martin Brundle was competing around the streets of Monaco, he would have “blood pouring” from his palms.
Brundle reflected on the extreme physical nature of the Monaco Grand Prix back then, an element which has not totally gone away. Brundle also predicted a familiar race-day scene as the new regulations and Monaco prepare to meet for the first time.
Martin Brundle doubts Monaco GP will change in F1 2026
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Historically, overtaking is at a premium, or non-existent, at the tight and technical Monte Carlo circuit.
Whether that remains the case in F1 2026, we shall soon find out.
A prominent feature of the much-debated new rules has been regular swapping of positions, or yo-yo racing, due to the different states of battery deployment going on between cars.
However, Brundle is not expecting a sudden explosion of racing action at the 2026 Monaco Grand Prix.
“Monaco is usually about qualifying day. That’s the most exciting thing,” he told Sky Sports.
“And race day is a bit of a game of chess unless it rains or there’s a timely safety car.
“I don’t think that will change a whole lot, because it’s been the same since when I raced there in the 1980s. It was exactly the same with any iteration of Formula 1 cars that we’ve had.”
Brundle made his first Monaco GP appearance back in 1985 with Tyrrell, his final being the 1996 staging.
His best result around the streets of Monte Carlo was P2 with McLaren at the 1994 Monaco GP, one of nine career podiums.
In any era, the Monaco Grand Prix is demanding, but Brundle reflected on just how brutal it was when he was racing.
“In those days, it was hugely physical, and we changed gear about 3,000 times in the race,” he recalled.
“You used to have blood pouring out the palm of your hands. We’d tape our hand with tank tape, duct tape, to try to help it, or some plasters or something like that. We didn’t have power steering or anything like that, so the cars were super physical.
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“You’d be going in the race thinking, ‘This is tough.’ It’s relentless. One mistake, and you’re out of the grand prix.
“And then you’d come past the pits, and they would show you a pit board that said 50 laps to go. You’d be like, ‘You are kidding me. I thought we were halfway there already!’
“It’s tough. It was tough back then. It’s tough in anything going so fast.”
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