Maurice Hamilton - Murray Walker: Incredible!: A Tribute to a Formula 1 Legend

Niki Lauda The Biography

Formula 1 The Official History

Formula One The Champions

Formula 1 The Pursuit of Speed

Grand Prix Circuits

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First published in Great Britain in 2021 by Bantam Press

Copyright Maurice Hamilton 2021

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ISBN: 978-1-473-59829-4

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It was a wonderful privilege to have known and worked with Murray, and indeed to have driven in races on which he commentated. He remains undoubtedly one of the best sports commentators of all time, a man who transcended Formula 1 to become a passionate soundtrack and national treasure to fans all around the world.

A natural communicator, ably confirmed by his very successful tangential career as an advertising executive, he was also a man whose glass was permanently half full. He had a kind and supportive word for everyone in the business and his warm, open and enthusiastic personality made him welcome throughout the paddock.

He was so respected that, remarkably, he was even more loved for making errors during his coverage of our relentlessly data-driven sport which continuously strives for perfection. His Murrayisms are comedy gold and he was smart enough to play along and make a virtue of what he claimed were not mistakes but prophecies which immediately turned out to be wrong.

In 1997 I became his apprentice in the commentary box, and to learn a little about broadcasting from the maestro himself was like having Pel teach you how to kick a ball. Before the first season got under way we had dinner together and I asked him for advice on this business of F1 broadcasting. His humility made him reluctant to suggest he knew all the answers, and after some cajoling he said: What I can tell you is to remember that we are only there to inform and entertain, nothing else. Simple, clear advice I repeat to myself a quarter of a century later.

One of the smartest decisions Ive ever made was to stand up alongside Murray for the entire race, which he liked to do so that he could bounce around, animatedly point at the screen, and keep his diaphragm and lungs opened up. We worked well together, although it was sometimes difficult to get his attention such was his engagement in the race. The arrangement was that I would put my left hand on his right shoulder when I wanted to say something, but in reality he only noticed if I dug a fingernail under his tendons! I became convinced that if I crept out of the commentary box he wouldnt notice until after the race, such was his focus.

His pre-race preparation was legendary with copious notes and diligent homework both at the track and back in his hotel room, and he remained pin sharp, knowledgeable and enthusiastic about F1 to the very end of his life.

A life well lived and well loved, and a career which will be celebrated and remembered for a very long time unless Im very much mistaken.

ROSBERG OUT! Keke Rosberg! Out of the Australian Grand Prix! If this isnt a sensation, Id like to know what is.

Just ninety-three seconds later, Murray Walker received a spectacular answer to his query. In one of the most dramatic incidents, arguably, in the history of Formula 1, a rear tyre exploded on Nigel Mansells Williams-Honda as he reached 180mph on the main straight.

AND LOOK AT THAT! bellowed Walker, stabbing a finger at the monitor in the BBC booth. Colossally, thats Mansell! That is Nigel Mansell. The car absolutely shattered. Hes fighting for control. You can see whats happened. Now this could change, and will change, the World Championship.

Indeed it could. Indeed it did. Mansells failure to win the 1986 world title at the eleventh hour on the streets of Adelaide would enter the annals of motor sport spectacle just as surely as the excited declarations of the man commentating on it.

Colossally, thats Mansell! Who else but Murray Walker could have said such a thing?

When it came to motor sport, everything was a derivative of colossal in Walkers book. Rosberg easing to the side of the track and coming to a gentle halt compared to Mansells hair-raising departure at a hundred times the speed may have been similar to contrasting a chilly draught with a raging typhoon. But, as far as Murray Walker was concerned, the fact that Rosberg had lost a commanding lead in what would be his final Grand Prix was a sensation. It was a thought he wanted desperately needed to share with viewers in the UK and in several countries around the world taking the BBC broadcast.

The fact that retirement for Rosberg had become a familiar sight in half of the preceding fifteen races was an irrelevance as far as this commentator was concerned. Rosberg was leading a race for only the fourth time in 1986 and there was a certain poignancy attached to this one; a pathos that Walker would have not merely noted but unashamedly embraced.

Rosbergs spectacular style in the cockpit appealed to Murray just as much as the Finns insouciance when out of the car. Keke had been a popular world champion in 1982. The fact that Rosberg had won just a single Grand Prix that year added to his aura of cheerful indifference.

This race in Australia would be Rosbergs 114th and final appearance. It may have been a comparatively brief Formula 1 career (Lewis Hamilton reached twice that number of races in 2018) but it did not detract from the F1 communitys wish articulated so passionately by Walker to see Rosberg end it with a win.

Apart from losing a comfortable lead, there was nothing particularly sensational in the strictest visual sense about the McLaren coming slowly to a halt. But whether he recognized it or not, Walkers emotional connection with this driver on this particular circuit had been cemented twelve months before when Rosberg was the colourful victor of the inaugural Australian Grand Prix.

An Australasian element to the international F1 calendar had been a long time coming. It was to be one of the most popular additions for many years after that first race weekend in early November 1985. But Walker loved it for reasons that went beyond the surprisingly good quality of the temporary race track and its facilities.