Mark Blundell calls time on impressive career in motorsport

Last week one of motorsport’s most complete drivers hung up their helmet from the sport for one final time.  

Last Monday, Mark Blundell announced publicly that after a plagued one-off appearance in the British Touring Car championship that he would retire from racing for good.  

Blundell competed across four Formula One campaigns between 1991 and 1995. His talent was globally adored as he raced for marques such as McLaren, Tyrell and Brabham. Damon Hill once quoted Blundell as a legend of motorsport and to be honoured for his commitment and desire to win.  

Blundell grew up in in the market town of Barnet, situated to the north of London. A passion for speed was brewed on two wheels when Blundell, then aged just 14, raced at local motocross events.  

The decision to attempt a career on four wheels came when Blundell, still bearing the wild, fanciful mind of a teenager, raced a Lola T44E Formula Ford in a club meeting at Silverstone in the early 1980s.  

It seemed passion took over the reins on Blundell’s motor racing career dream as he would soon excel across local F1600 and Formula Ford championships. The pivotal step towards success came in 1987, when Blundell contested in his maiden season in F3000.  

A stint in 1988 racing for Lola Motorsport constituted into a competitive season that established Blundell as a capable and gifted driver. Three podium finishes culminated in Blundell finishing 6th in the F3000 drivers’ championship.

Determination was never out of Blundell’s mantra; and in 1989 he landed a factory drive with the Nissan sports car team and a drive in the prestigious 24 hours of Le Mans. However, the Nissan R89C was marginalised by reliability issues and an underdeveloped chassis.  

In 1990, Nissan, resolute to stick it out with their 3.5L twin turbo engine that proved difficult to understand in their ’89 car, successfully developed a chassis and engine package that was equally reliable and fast. It was with the new R90CK that Blundell delivered his first blow upon the global motorsport scene. His pole position lap time of a 3.27.020 in qualifying for the 1990 24 hours of Le Mans was over 6s faster than Blundell’s nearest competitor.  

Blundell would transition into the pinnacle of motorsport in 1991. The Brit made his Grand Prix debut at the US Grand Prix in Arizona racing for the legendary Brabham team.

A sixth-place finish at Spa was shrouded by suffering 9 DNFs in a 16-round season as the erroneous Yamaha V12 proved to be drastically unreliable. Brabham would not retain Blundell for another season, demoting the promising talent to the role of a test driver for McLaren.

Blundell’s break from the oppressive world of Formula One enabled him to once more focus upon his sports cars career. A shift to the Peugeot Sport team delivered Blundell arguably his greatest career achievement. Supported by Yannick Dalmas and Derrick Warwick, Blundell would win the 1992 24 hours of Le Mans.

Ligier would give Blundell his return to the F1 limelight in 1993. The JS39 was Ligier’s first car to operate a semi-automatic gearbox and proved to be competitive from the outset.  

A podium finish in the season’s opening round in South Africa would be the first of two for the year for Blundell and three for the team. Though Blundell would once again be dogged by a myriad of retirements to finish 10th in the championship standing.

A jumped to Tyrrell in 1994 proved flawed once more for Blundell. The only highlight being Blundell’s third and final Grand Prix podium at the Spanish Grand Prix in Barcelona where he finished in P3 behind Hill and Schumacher.  

Blundell’s success would also be the end of Tyrrell’s dynasty, being the team’s final podium before withdrawing from the sport at the end of 1998.

After the retirement of Mansell from McLaren, Blundell was released from Tyrrell following the ’93 season. The opening at McLaren enabled Blundell to slot back into the team he once tested for.  

An inconsistent season for Blundell meant he finished 10th in the championship standings, though only four points behind teammate Mika Hakkinen.

Blundell returned to the racing headlines in 2019 when he confirmed he would compete in the BTCC for the Tradepricecars.com outfit at the ripe age of 53. Nothing really derived from Blundell’s experience and the team struggled to compete at a competitive level.

A venerated racing driver who exhibited his talent on the global stage, Mark Blundell retires from motor racing to focus on his driver management business, MB partners. Blundell summarised his career after confirming his retirement: “For 30 years I’ve given my all behind the wheel, met the most amazing people and enjoyed moments I’ll never forget.”

We wish Mark Blundell all the best for his future endeavours and thank him for his contribution to the racing community. (Report by Zane Shackleton; Photo by McLaren)

“Some personal news ahead of 2020 ????”
“Time to let the cat out of the bag and sign ..... “
For the full story head to my Instagram channel on mark_blundell_f1 #btcc #autosport #motorsport #touringcars #racingdrivers #mbpartners pic.twitter.com/0QTQJMPmOk

— Mark Blundell (@markblundellf1) January 5, 2020