Martin Brundle reminds Flavio Briatore: “You fired me once!”

Martin Brundle reminded Flavio Briatore of their contentious history when they met on his grid walk in Jeddah.

Sky Sports pundit Brundle bumped into Alpine’s Briatore in the moments before the F1 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix.

“Martin Brundle, you fired me once,” he said as he introduced himself to Briatore.

Explained: Flavio Briatore fired Martin Brundle

Brundle was the Benetton teammate of Michael Schumacher in the 1992 F1 season.

The team was run by Briatore, who had lured Schumacher from Jordan.

Brundle finished sixth in the 1992 F1 standings, with Schumacher third. But the driver who finished second, behind only Nigel Mansell, had caught Briatore eye.

Briatore opted to replace Brundle as his driver in 1993 with Riccardo Patrese.

Patrese had already raced in seven F1 seasons, twice finishing third before finishing second in 1992.

He finished fifth in 1993, one place behind teammate Schumacher, in their sole season together at Benetton. Brundle, who moved on to Ligier, was seventh.

From Patrese's perspective, he likely discovered to his detriment that the Benetton team was being centred around the brilliant Schumacher.

Briatore's ruthless nature has continued.

His arrival at Alpine as their executive advisor has given the team major behind-the-scenes know-how.

But his presence has arguably piled the pressure onto Jack Doohan, their rookie driver.

Doohan was under scrutiny even before the first grand prix of 2025 because Alpine signed the highly-rated Franco Colapinto as their reserve driver.

But Doohan has kept his place through to Saudi Arabia, the fifth round of the year.