Brundle details rollercoaster friendship with Schumacher: 'Was a shame'

Schumacher and Brundle were teammates at Benetton in 1992. The German got the better of Brundle, but the Brit did achieve five of his nine career podiums that season. But in the years after that, Brundle has explained how the two fell out.

Brundle and Schumacher's friendship

Brundle spoke about how he transitioned from being a Formula 1 driver to being a well-known pundit. He spoke about the early days of his famous which continues to this day. "Drivers would stop by and have a good old chat. I remember talking once to Michael Schumacher and Gerhard Berger at the same time, and could do what I wanted and go where I wanted to," Brundle explained on the Sky Sports F1 podcast.

"The grid was deserted, generally speaking, back then. Well, weirdly, we fell out, because something I said was translated, taken out of context, and translated into German and put in a headline in a newspaper. And Michael got very upset. I have no idea what it was to this day. And he wouldn’t speak to me for five years. It was really odd," Brundle explained before saying the two became friends again towards the end of the 2000s.

"And then we got drunk together in a nightclub in Valencia when he was on his sabbatical between Mercedes and Ferrari, and we were fine after that. He was sort of hanging off my shoulder, he was like, ‘My teammate, my teammate’. It broke the ice again. So I really don’t know what the problem was, but that was a real shame," Brundle concluded.

Recently, Brundle was ignored on the grid by Franco Colapinto. The rookie blanked him but explained that he was unsure of what was going on with all the interviews while trying to prepare for a Grand Prix. At the next event, Brundle introduced himself to the Williams driver.