Martin Brundle has sent his support to Lindsey Vonn after the American suffered a fractured left leg in a crash during the women’s downhill at the 2026 Winter Olympics.
Vonn, competing at the Milano Cortina Games, was airlifted to hospital on Sunday. It was later confirmed she underwent surgery following the incident. The 41-year-old’s return to Olympic competition had already been a talking point in some corners of winter sport, coming so soon after she’d reportedly ruptured ligaments in her left knee just nine days earlier.
Brundle, never one to miss the human moment amid the noise, summed up the general feeling from fellow elite-sport observers: admiration first, debates later. Posting on social media, the Sky F1 pundit described Vonn as “brave” and said she has his “absolute respect”.
“Heal well Lindsey Vonn,” Brundle wrote. “What an incredibly brave, determined, and relentless competitor, you have my absolute respect.”
Vonn’s connection to Formula 1 isn’t some fleeting celebrity crossover. She’s been a familiar face in the paddock in recent years, and in 2020 she even spoke publicly about flirting with the idea of swapping skis for slicks. The appeal made sense: the same appetite for risk, the same obsession with marginal gains, the same comfort operating at speeds where most people would back out long before the corner arrives.
But Vonn also offered a stark reminder of what the sport demands from anyone trying to break in properly. Speaking on *In depth with Graham Bensinger* in 2020, she explained she’d been discouraged from pursuing a move into racing because of the level of commitment required — and the personal compromises attached to it.
“I was thinking about switching to Formula 1 and trying to be a driver, but I couldn’t because they wanted me to fully commit to three years and they were like: ‘You can’t get pregnant, and you can’t do anything,’” Vonn said at the time. “And I’m like: ‘I don’t know if I really want to do that.’
“That would have been something that was very exciting for the person I am.”
Even in 2026, it’s a quote that lands with a thud. F1 sells itself as modern, global, progressive — and in plenty of ways it is — but the underlying reality for anyone outside the established ladder remains brutally uncompromising. The calendar is relentless, the testing opportunities are limited, and the pathway is narrow enough even before you layer on the extra scrutiny and structural hurdles faced by women trying to get into the top level.
The Olympics incident also lands at a time when F1’s orbit continues to brush up against winter sport more than you might expect. Former F1 test driver Simona de Silvestro is part of the Italian bobsleigh team at these Games, a reminder that elite athletes — particularly those with a taste for speed and pressure — often find their way between disciplines. De Silvestro, born in Switzerland, tested a 2012-spec Sauber at Fiorano in 2014 as part of a plan aimed at reaching Formula 1.
For now, though, the story is simpler than the wider debates that will inevitably flare up around it. Vonn’s injury is serious, and her road back will be difficult. In Brundle’s message there was none of the performative gloss that often clings to public well-wishing — just a nod from one veteran of high-risk competition to another.
In sports like these, respect is rarely handed out lightly. Vonn has always earned hers the hard way.
