Watch the awkward moment Sky F1’s Martin Brundle is rejected by Ana de Armas

Ana de Armas just became the latest celebrity with a VIP lanyard to awkwardly reject a chat with Sky F1’s Martin Brundle on his much loved Grand Prix grid walk.

The James Bond actress, 37, was flagged down by former F1 driver turned pundit Martin, 66, on the Abu Dhabi grid today before Brit Lando Norris became world champion, putting a stop to Max Verstappen’s winning streak.

‘Ana, Martin Brundle, Sky F1,’ Martin said introducing himself with his microphone on the grid, before asking the Ballerina actress: ‘Can I have a quick chat?’

It’s unclear what Ana said in response, but Martin replied, ‘Ur, it’s up to you,’ before the actress awkwardly slinked off. Elsewhere, Martin did nab a chat with legendary striker Thierry Henry, and didn’t even have to rely on his failsafe Gordon Ramsay.

F1 fans, who would have given pretty much anything to be on the grid chatting with Martin, took to social media to express their disappointment at Ana’s reaction.

‘Martin Brundle got ducked by Ana De Armas,’ pointed out @abishekdas73 on X, while @sewissupremacy said: ‘AnaDeArmas being ignorant disappointed me.

‘Like why bother going on the grid if you’re not gonnaspeak to Martin man does my head in! If you’re on the grid expect Martin to come up to you ffs!’

‘Ana de Armas bumping Martin Brundle at the F1,’ noted @JonseysTweets.

Martin has previously confessed to disliking his much-loved and always brilliantly awkward grid walks, where he catches celebrities and F1 stars for impromptu chats before the race kicks off.

Always entertaining, we’ve seen Martin mix up the Jonas Brothers, Jeremy Clarkson give a sloshed interview, and the F1 commentator interviewing Lewis Capaldi’s brother thinking he was the famed Someone You Loved hitmaker.

While much of the time it’s all good chaotic fun, sometimes videos of stars snubbing Martin go viral for all the wrong reasons.

In 2023 model Cara Delevingne was accused of being ‘rude’ when she shut down a chat with Martin at Silverstone.

Taking to Twitter, the filmstar replied to a tweet that analysed what went on. ‘At this point, Martin Brundle is just doing it to manufacture the moment for the controversy of it all’, their tweet began.

‘You can clearly see the PR rep tell him “no” and shake his head when he goes up towards Cara Delevingne. He had an out and he chose not to take it to make a statement.’

In reply, Cara wrote: ‘I was told to say no so I did. Thank you for seeing both sides xxx’

In a later tweet, she assured everyone that she had a great time despite the backlash.

‘Anyway, I had so much fun today and was so happy to be there no matter what anyone else may think x’, she said.

F1 fans have been vocal in their criticism of this kind of attitude, with the sport’s organisers introducing the ‘Brundle clause’ after the pundit was rudely shoved away by Megan Thee Stallion’s bodyguards and entourage at the 2021 USA Grand Prix.

The rule states that celebrities who are invited onto the starting grid are not allowed to bring their security with them, and although they are not obliged to speak to the media, they are advised and encouraged to do so.

Cara’s awkward moment led to calls for Formula One to re-think having celebrities on the grid, if they aren’t going to talk to pundits. However, other fans think it’s fair enough to say no to an interview.

The model was being hosted by Alfa Romeo at Silverstone, with the team’s Twitter account responding to a fan who called her ‘rude’ by saying: ‘Respect goes both ways: nobody should be placed in an uncomfortable situation or forced to do things against their will.’

‘There’s a reason why I’ve never watched back an F1 gridwalk in a quarter of a century of doing them,’ Martin tweeted in 2022.

‘You have no idea how much I dislike doing them but somehow those crazy moments have defined my professional career.

‘Oh well, that’s the way it is.’

‘I get ignored by Megan Thee Stallion, biffed out of the way by a man mountain and then told off by a Malfoy lookalike who doubtless was on his first-ever time to an F1 grid,’ Brundle would later say on the video moment with the popstar.

‘I have felt under pressure on the grid before but by people called Senna, Prost, Schumacher, Mansell, Piquet and so on.

‘Bodyguards visiting the grid for the first time don’t bother me, everyone’s got a job to do, but they could maybe learn some manners and respect on our patch.’

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