Martin Brundle, the legendary F1 commentator, has confirmed a change to his Sky F1 schedule. He is scheduled to cover 16 races a year, a slight reduction from his workload in 2025 when he attended 18 rounds. Brundle missed the last two rounds of the F1 2026 season in China and Japan.
Brundle’s Reduced Schedule
Brundle revealed his plans to cover 16 races this season on the Sky F1 podcast. He is set to return at the next round in Miami next month. The veteran pundit will turn 67 in June.
Brundle has been a fixture of Formula 1 broadcasting in Britain for three decades. He worked for ITV and the BBC before joining Sky F1 at the start of 2012. Last year, he was recognised with an OBE for services to motor racing and sports broadcasting.
After commentating at the F1 2026 season opener in Australia last month, Brundle has been absent from the last two race weekends in China and Japan.
Rotation System and Race Selection
With the Formula 1 calendar swelling to a record 24 races over recent years, the Sky F1 crew have operated with a rotation system over the past few seasons. The presenters, commentators and pundits all miss a select number of races.
Brundle attended 18 of a possible 24 rounds in 2025, missing the Japanese, Emilia Romagna, Austrian, Azerbaijan, Mexican and Las Vegas grands prix.
Brundle said he has to miss some races and they tend to be the early-hours-of-the-morning races. He added that he always feels a bit sad when he’s not in Suzuka because he loves that track as a driver and as a broadcaster, but he can’t do them all these days.
Miami Grand Prix and F1’s Relaunch
Brundle confirmed that he will return to the commentary booth in Miami. He claimed the Florida weekend could see “one of the biggest relaunches” ever seen in Formula 1 after a five-week break from Japan. F1’s stakeholders are due to hold a number of meetings over the course of April with a view to refining the highly divisive F1 2026 regulations.
He added that Miami is going to be almost like the start of a new Formula 1 season. He is looking forward to late April/early May.
It is unclear whether Brundle’s reduced workload is due to a change to his contractual agreement with Sky F1 for 2026 or a result of the cancellations of the Bahrain and Saudi Arabian grands prix, which have cut this year’s calendar to a maximum of 22 rounds. Sky did not comment on the matter when approached.
Brundle is set to return to the commentary booth in Miami.