Mark Blundell

Mark Blundell
Template:Country flagicon British
Formula One World Championship Career
Active years	1991, 1993–1995
Team(s)	Brabham, Ligier, Tyrrell and McLaren
Grands Prix	63 (61 starts)
Championships	0
Wins	0
Podium finishes	3
Career Points	32
Pole positions	0
Fastest laps	0
First Grand Prix	1991 United States Grand Prix
First win
Last win
Last Grand Prix	1995 Australian Grand Prix

Mark Blundell (born Barnet, London, 8 April 1966) is a former Formula One, sports car, and CART racing driver. He was a Formula One presenter for the British broadcaster ITV until the end of the 2008 season. Blundell is married and the father of two children.

Background

He first dabbled in motor racing at the age of 14, racing motocross bikes across England. He was an immediate success, eventually becoming one of the top-ranked riders in Britain, winning a few championships. At the age of 17 he made the switch to four wheels in Britain's Formula Ford. Again, he was rewarded with instant success, and in his first season he placed second in both British Junior Formula Ford Championships (despite 25 wins and 24 poles). The following year, Mark won both the Esso British and Snetterton FF1600 crowns. The next year, he upgraded his ride to the more powerful FF2000 category, and promptly won the BBC Grandstand series. He even returned to FF1600 for the European Championship racing, taking pole, and finishing fourth overall. With 1986 came another championship in FF2000, this time the European title.

At this point in his career, Blundell decided it was time to take his continuing success, and move on to international racing. He bypassed the traditional stepping stone of Formula 3 and joined TOMS-Toyota in Formula 3000. Despite having to cope with an underfunded and underpowered car, he showed incredible talent and strung together a series of promising results, including a number of race wins. He even started a few races at F3, showing ability there as well. 1987 meant a switch to the works Lola team in F3000, at that time one of the biggest teams in the series. In a closely contested season, Blundell managed a very respectable sixth place in the final standings.

Formula One

The following year, he made a deal with the crack sports car team at Nissan, landing a factory seat. He also managed a test drive with one of the top teams in Formula One — Williams. By 1990, Blundell had abandoned F3000 to concentrate on sports cars. That same year, he set a new lap record and earned pole position at the prestigious Le Mans 24 Hours race — the youngest driver ever to do so.

The year 1991 marked the biggest step forward in Mark Blundell's racing career — his Formula One debut. His debut season saw a sixth place in Belgium with the Brabham Yamaha team. He also maintained his testing deal with Williams. The following season however, he was not retained by the cash-strapped Brabham team, and was left without a race seat in F1. He did, however, sign a testing deal with McLaren. Whilst being a full-time tester for McLaren, he also continued to race sports cars. That year, with the factory Peugeot outfit, he won the Le Mans 24 Hours, adding to his earlier pole.

1993 saw the return of Mark Blundell to the pinnacle of motorsport. A drive with Ligier netted him his first two podium finishes in South Africa and Germany. He finished tenth in the final World Championship standings. It was a one-year deal with Ligier, however, and in 1994 he signed with Tyrrell. It was not as successful a year as '93, and Blundell managed only one podium finish in the 1994 Spanish Grand Prix, which was the last F1 podium finish for Tyrrell. At the end of the season, owing to lack of sponsorship, Tyrrell released him. This would prove to be a blessing in disguise, as the retirement of Nigel Mansell meant a return to McLaren for Blundell, this time, in a race seat. Teamed with future two-time world champion Mika Häkkinen, Blundell recorded five points finishes and once again took tenth in the final standings. 1995 also saw continued success in sports cars with a fourth place showing in Le Mans, but was Mark Blundell's final year in Formula One, as the signing of David Coulthard by McLaren meant that Mark would have to find a job somewhere else.

Blundell achieved 3 podiums, and scored a total of 32 championship points.

CART

Mark Blundell
CART World Series
Nationality	Template:Country flagicon British
Years active	1996-2000
Team(s)	PacWest Racing
Starts	81
Wins	3
Poles	0
Wins	0
Fastest laps
Best finish	6th in 1997
Championship titles
Awards
1997	Autosport British Driver of the Year

Out of Formula One, Blundell moved to the U.S. and joined the CART racing team PacWest Racing, with fellow former F1 driver Maurício Gugelmin of Brazil alongside. A huge crash in the early stages of the season in Rio meant Mark had to sit out for several races owing to injury. Despite this, Mark was third in the rookie standings with three top six finishes in the U.S. 500, Detroit Grand Prix, and Michigan International Speedway races. 1997 was a breakout year, and Blundell recorded race victories in Portland, Toronto, and Fontana en route to sixth in the championship. That year he was also named British Driver of the Year by Autosport magazine. 1998 was not a year for the books, and a massive crash early in 1999 left him to languish at the bottom of the table. He returned to PacWest for a final season in 2000. However, another disappointing season — 18 pts, 21st overall — lead to a mutual split with PacWest racing.

From driving to commentating

Blundell again crossed the Atlantic to focus on his sports car racing. He failed to finish Le Mans with the MG Lola team, though he and his team-mates impressed. Off-track, Blundell joined ITV television in Britain as an analyst during the Formula One season. This position lasted until the end of the 2008 F1 season when ITV lost coverage to the BBC.

Since 2001, Blundell's racing involvement has steadily declined, with only the occasional event. He did test a Dale Coyne Champ Car to help prepare Darren Manning for a one-off in the first CART race in Britain at Rockingham, and raced in the British round of the World Rally Championship.

2003 saw great success in sports cars. Along with Johnny Herbert and David Brabham, he finished second at the 24 Hours of Le Mans, completing a 1-2 sweep by Bentley. He also finished third at the 12 Hours of Sebring, finishing top among the Bentleys.

Blundell also spends time running a management company, 2MB Sports Management, who handle the contracts of such people as McLaren test driver Gary Paffett and British Formula Three champion and Indycar driver Mike Conway. The name refers to the fact that it was founded by Blundell and former team-mate Martin Brundle, who stepped down from the company in January 2009.<ref>{{#if: Brundle to step back from 2MB role

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'Blundellisms'

Mark's unique style of TV presentation and commentary is drawing ever-increasing attention from the F1 community, particularly on the internet. Known as 'Blundellisms' (an apparently affectionate throw-back to Murray Walker's now legendary 'Murrayisms'), Mark's curious turn of phrase is sometimes humorous, occasionally baffling, and often linguistically unsound. He has received some criticism for his colloquial grammar, such as frequently using 'what' when 'which' or 'that' would be more suited.[1]

Some examples of 'Blundellisms' include:

• On Honda's new-for-2007 'Earth car': "They've got a new image. They've got everything that they're moving into in a different way - whole new process - but what they've got to be careful of is they don't lead the way on the track, that they're leaving behind technology and performance where they really are frustration there, because Button and Barrichello, they're scratching their heads already at the first race and that's not what they want."
• On Lewis Hamilton's fear of Alonso: "He hasn't got no regard for him, whatsoever."
• Mark's view on the conditions in Malaysia, 2007: "It's just immensely humidity."
• On the temperature at the 2007 US Grand Prix: "It's as hot as what I've felt it here before."
• On Lewis Hamilton's performance at the 2007 Bahrain Grand Prix: "Lewis just needs to go home and understand where he sits."
• On the standard of marshalling at the 2008 Bahrain Grand Prix: "Maybe those waved yellows should have been stagnant yellows"

Complete Formula One results

(key)

Year	Entrant	Chassis	Engine	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	WDC	Pts.
1991	Motor Racing Developments Ltd	Brabham BT59Y	Yamaha V12	USA Ret	BRA Ret																18th	1
		Brabham BT60Y	Yamaha V12			SMR 8	MON Ret	CAN DNQ	MEX Ret	FRA Ret	GBR Ret	GER 12	HUN Ret	BEL 6	ITA 12	POR Ret	ESP Ret	JPN DNPQ	AUS 17
1993	Ligier Gitanes Blondes	Ligier JS39	Renault V10	RSA 3	BRA 5	EUR Ret	SMR Ret	ESP 7	MON Ret	CAN Ret	FRA Ret	GBR 7	GER 3	HUN 7	BEL 11	ITA Ret	POR Ret	JPN 7	AUS 9		10th	10
1994	Tyrrell	Tyrrell 022	Yamaha V10	BRA Ret	PAC Ret	SMR 9	MON Ret	ESP 3	CAN 10	FRA 10	GBR Ret	GER Ret	HUN 5	BEL 5	ITA Ret	POR Ret	EUR 13	JPN Ret	AUS Ret		12th	8
1995	Marlboro McLaren Mercedes	McLaren MP4/10	Mercedes V10	BRA 6	ARG Ret	SMR	ESP														10th	13
		McLaren MP4/10B						MON 5	CAN Ret	FRA 11	GBR 5	GER Ret	HUN Ret	BEL 5	ITA 4			PAC 9	JPN 7	AUS 4
		McLaren MP4/10C														POR 9	EUR Ret

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Mark Blundell

• Official Website
• Mark Blundell at itv.com
• Mark 'git orf me barra' Blundell at www.planet-f1.com

Preceded by: Volker Weidler Johnny Herbert Bertrand Gachot

Winner of the 24 Hours of Le Mans 1992 with: Derek Warwick Yannick Dalmas

Succeeded by: Geoff Brabham Christophe Bouchut Eric Hélary

Preceded by: Damon Hill

Autosport British Competition Driver of the Year 1997

Succeeded by: Dario Franchitti