Machine Gun Kelly storms off after bizarre ‘air guitar’ exchange with Martin Brundle on F1 grid

The American rapper fiddled with Brundle’s poppy before asking the F1 pundit to do an air guitar live on air

Machine Gun Kelly was involved in a bizarre exchange with Martin Brundle on the F1 grid in Brazil in 2023 – with the rapper putting his thumb down to the camera at the end.

Prior to the Brazilian Grand Prix in Sao Paulo won by Max Verstappen in 2023, Brundle bumped into the American rapper and a strange interview started and finished in excruciating circumstances.

At first Machine Gun Kelly – real name Colson Baker, who was announced to be performing at F1 75 Live on Tuesday night in London – stared into the distance as he appeared unable to hear Brundle, before then saying: “Honoured to be here.”

Then, the American fiddled with Brundle’s poppy on his shirt before being asked about how his career is going. He simply replied: “What are you saying? I don’t think about my career, I don’t think about it.”

Brundle then quipped: “Well good luck with it, whatever you do.”

The pair then shared a more customary line of conversation, with the 33-year-old artist – who was wearing Dolce & Gabbana sunglasses – talking about F1 drivers putting their “life on the line” and working in a studio alongside Lewis Hamilton.

But as the interview concluded, Machine Gun Kelly attempted to coax Brundle into doing an air guitar live on air.

When Brundle refused, the rapper asked for an air piano-air guitar collaboration and while he fulfilled his side of it, Brundle insisted “I can’t do it…. I probably need to get on.”

The rapper then abruptly put his thumb down to the camera and stormed off.

Machine Gun Kelly puts his thumb down to the camera after a bizarre exchange with Martin Brundle in Brazil (Sky F1)

As he walked away, Brundle simply said: “Something tells me I won’t be on his Christmas card list.”

Sky Sports F1 pundit Brundle often delights viewers with his amusing encounters with celebrities on the grid before Formula 1 races around the world. In 2021 at the US Grand Prix, Brundle was stopped from interviewing Megan Thee Stallion after her bodyguard obstructed his path on the grid in Austin.

That resulted in a change to the rules surrounding bodyguards and celebrities on the Formula 1 grid.

The popular Sky pundit, a former F1 driver himself, also endured hilarious encounters with DJ Khaled and Pharrell Williams in Miami in 2022, as well as a slightly frosty exchange with Cara Delevingne at Silverstone in 2023, in which the model refused to talk to Brundle.

Article originally published 6 November 2023