Martin Brundle announced he will cut his on-site Sky F1 commentary commitments to a fixed slate of 16 races for the 2026 season, formally stepping back from full-time commentating while remaining on a regular but limited schedule. The 16 races are two fewer than the 18 rounds he attended in 2025, and Brundle confirmed he will return to the commentary booth for the Miami weekend in May 2026.

Brundle, 66, began commentating in F1 in 1997 after TV rights moved from the BBC to ITV, where he worked alongside Murray Walker. He joined Sky in 2012 and has built a 29-year broadcasting career in the sport, becoming known for memorable lines such as “Is that Glock?” and other signature remarks.

He has been gradually cutting back his trackside appearances, attending the 2025 season opener in Australia but missing the China and Japan rounds, where his customary grid walk was absent. On The F1 Show podcast and the Sky F1 podcast Brundle said he tends to skip races that fall in the very early hours for him and that he was “a bit sad” to miss Suzuka. He described the change as a personal scheduling reduction rather than a wholesale contractual shift. Sky declined to comment on whether Brundle’s reduced 2026 schedule resulted from contractual changes or from the cancellations of the Bahrain and Saudi Arabian Grands Prix, which have reduced the 2026 calendar to a maximum of 22 rounds and produced a five-week midseason gap that Brundle expects the Miami Grand Prix to relaunch.

Sources