Martin Brundle lays in to hotel staff

Martin Brundle (pictured), who was recently persuaded to leave his ITV commentating job to become the "voice" of Formula One for the BBC, is unlikely to be invited back to London’s Grosvenor House Hotel anytime soon. On Sunday night, he attended the magazine Autosport's annual awards at the Mayfair hotel and after arriving on stage to present one of the statuettes, the former racing driver proceeded to lay into the hotel's catering staff.

"I'm still picking the lamb out of my teeth," he complained to the 800-strong audience, which included F1 champion Lewis Hamilton and Sir Stirling Moss. "Wasn't that the worst meal we've ever been served at the Grosvenor House?"

The hotel refused to return fire on Brundle yesterday, but the Independent reports that the chef is very keen to have a word with him. Said a hotel spokesman: "We serve over 300,000 people at the hotel each year, which we'd like to think is in no small part down to the quality of the food. Sadly, there can be an occasion when it might not be up to someone's personal standard. However, we would like to get in touch with Mr Brundle and speak to him about it."