Martin Brundle told a bodyguard: ‘Don’t push me, mate’ as he attempted but ultimately failed to secure a quick chat with Kim Kardashian during his Monaco Grand Prix grid walk. The global superstar made her first appearance on the grid since embarking on a romance with Lewis Hamilton, having been spotted on Saturday watching proceedings from the balcony above the Ferrari garage.
By Sunday she had descended to the grid alongside a host of other famous faces. But Sky Sports pundit Brundle received short shrift from the reality TV icon when he approached her during his pre-race grid walk segment, hoping to snatch a few words.
“Kim, Martin Brundle from Sky F1, how are you today?” he enquired politely. Kardashian glanced at him and offered a smile, before swiftly turning away, clearly disinclined to speak. Brundle extended his microphone in the hope of coaxing a response from her, but without success.
Kardashian then leaned towards one of her bodyguards, who whispered something into her ear. At that moment, off camera, Brundle warned one of the other security staff surrounding Kim and her sister Khloe: “No, you don’t need to push me mate.” Brundle made one final attempt to draw a comment from the sisters, but again had no such luck.
It proved an incredibly hectic grid walk, as is customary in Monaco. The narrow start-finish straight is notoriously cramped at the finest of times, while the sheer prestige of this race invariably draws a considerable array of celebrities, and this year was no exception.
It briefly appeared as though Brundle was heading for an immediate knockback on his very first encounter of the grid walk, as he approached Hollywood star Cynthia Erivo. The Wicked actress was posing for photographs in front of Max Verstappen’s Red Bull car when Brundle initiated a conversation, initially receiving a frosty reception as Erivo made clear she wasn’t giving interviews.
Her attitude warmed somewhat, however, as she did respond to a couple of questions about being in Monaco and taking in the occasion. Before Brundle could dig any deeper, he was ushered away by a Red Bull photographer who insisted the Sky Sports crew were obstructing his shot.
Brundle did fall short, though, of getting anywhere near Premier League star Morgan Gibbs-White. He walked straight past Liverpool midfielder Curtis Jones in a bid to reach the Nottingham Forest forward, who was also stationed in front of Verstappen’s car at the time.
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He was unable to get close enough to exchange words with Gibbs-White, who was soaking up the Monaco atmosphere having missed out on Thomas Tuchel’s England squad for the World Cup.
Brundle found some consolation, however, in the shape of a chat with the Crown Prince of Bahrain. Mumtalakat, the Bahraini sovereign wealth fund, holds a partial stake in the McLaren F1 team, and this represents a landmark weekend for the outfit as they celebrate 1,000 appearances in Formula 1.