The setting is the Indianapolis Motor Speedway: home to the world-famous Indy 500 race. Ahead of the 2005 United States Grand Prix, at a circuit modified for Formula One, ITV pundit and former F1 driver Martin Brundle is interviewing the sport’s long-term supremo and commander-in-chief Bernie Ecclestone on the grid. And you may well say, nothing unusual about that.
What is more unusual is Brundle’s direct, bordering on combative, line of questioning. A huddle of camera crew and journalists huddle around, eager for answers. Because F1’s only race in the land of the free is about to become a farce. Out of 20 cars, only six are set to take to the start line. For the sport and its tempestuous 55-year relationship with the US, it is the ultimate moment of “lunacy”, as Brundle depicts it.
