Mark Blundell
Mark Blundell (born 8 April 1966, in Barnet, London, England) is a British former racing driver famous for his appearances in Formula One.
Formula 3000
Blundell drove for the Onyx team in the 1988 F3000 season as the reigning champion. He won the final race of the season in Dijon, also taking the fastest lap, on his way to a disappointing 7th in the championship, with 21 points, but easily beating his teammate Joachim Winkelhock. In 1989, Blundell switched to the Madgwick outfit, until moving to Nissan in Japan. Despite this, Blundell managed to finish 10th in the championship, scoring 11 points.
Formula One
Blundell moved to Formula One for 1990, joining F3000 team Middlebridge Racing under the historic Brabham name, partnering David Brabham. The BT56 was a troublesome car, with the team failing to pre-qualify for the first race at Phoenix in the United States, although Blundell managed to beat the faster Rial of JJ Lehto in an impressive debut. He also failed to pre-qualify in Brazil. The team had a good chance of pre-qualifying at Autopolis, given the traffic problems blighting the Rial team, but Blundell also encountered traffic on his runs and failed to capitalise. A further unsurprising failure to pre-qualify at Imola followed, but at Monaco, Blundell would make it past pre-qualifying and qualifying to have his first ever Formula One start. He finished in 15th and last place, being the only finisher to be lapped 5 times, due to the lack of pace from the Brabham BT56 chassis.
A further DNPQ at the Canadian Grand Prix followed before Blundell would gain a new team-mate in the form of Kazuki Fushida, Brabham being let go falling out with the team management. Fushida's appointment failed to get the team out of pre-qualifying for the next two weekends. At the British Grand Prix, Blundell and Fushida were able to take advantage of a wet pre-qualifying session and progress from pre-qualifying. In a similarly wet main qualifying Blundell was able to make the grid, in contrast to Fushida, but he would not finish the race due to an engine failure.
Heading into the Hungarian Grand Prix it was announced that Blundell would have his third team-mate of the season in the form of veteran Robert Kagan.
After the failure at Brabham, Blundell opted to gain much more experience by becoming a test driver for Williams in 1991 and Mclaren in 1992. Blundell credited working with the championship caliber crew at Williams and Mclaren as key to him developing his skills. Refreshed by those two years of gaining experience, Blundell felt ready to come back to a full-time F1 seat, signing with Lotus for the 1993 season.
Career results
Complete International Formula 3000 results
| Year | Team | Chassis | Engine | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | DC | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1988 | Onyx Racing | March 88-B | Ford Cosworth DFY 3.0 V8 | JER 3 |
IMO 2 |
PAU 5 |
SIL 17† |
MNZ Ret |
PER Ret |
BHA 7 |
BIR Ret |
BUG Ret |
ZOL 15 |
DIJ 1 |
7th | 21 |
| 1989 | Madgwick International | Lola T89/50 | Ford Cosworth DFY 3.0 V8 | SIL Ret |
IMO 3 |
PAU Ret |
JER 3 |
ASS 4 |
PER Ret |
BHA Ret |
BIR | SPA | LEM | DIJ | 10th | 11 |
Complete Formula 1 Results
(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; Races in italics indicate fastest lap)
| Year | Entrant | Chassis | Engine | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | Points | WDC |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1990 | Motor Racing Developments Ltd | Brabham BT56 | Ford DFR 3.5 V8 | USA DNPQ |
BRA DNPQ |
PAC DNPQ |
SMR DNPQ |
MON 15 |
CAN DNPQ |
MEX DNPQ |
FRA DNPQ |
GBR Ret |
GER DNPQ |
HUN DNPQ |
BEL DNPQ |
ITA DNPQ |
POR Ret |
JPN DNPQ |
AUS DNPQ |
0 | — |