Cara Delevingne has explained her decision to turn down a gridwalk interview with F1 legend Martin Brundle at this weekend's British Grand Prix.
The 30-year-old English supermodel and actress sparked plenty of debate when she refused to talk to the Sky Sports reporter ahead of Sunday's race at Silverstone.
Trying to pin her down for a quick chat, Brundle was told by an apparent F1 representative that "she doesn't want to talk."
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The former British racing driver responded: “That's the deal now, everybody talks on the grid... can we have a quick chat at Sky F1? Good to see you on the grid.”
But after trying his utmost to provide viewers with an interview, a frustrated Brunde would eventually fail in his attempts. Soon, he sarcastically told viewers: “Okay, well, I'm sure it would have been extremely interesting”.
Delevingne has since hit back after snubbing Brundle on the grid.
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She responded to Twitter user Devin Altieri, who posted the following: "At this point, Martin Brundle is just doing it to manufacture the moment for the controversy of it all.
"You can clearly see the PR rep tell him "no" and shake his head when he goes up towards Cara Delevingne. He had an out and he chose not to take it to make a statement."
Delevingne quote tweeted the above statement with her own comment. "I was told to say no so I did. Thank you for seeing both sides xxx."
She would later confirm that it was an F1 representative, not an agent, who told her to decline an interview with Brundle.
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Delevingne's decision to decline the pre-race interview has divided opinion.
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Brundle's Sky Sports colleague Karun Chandhok called on the FIA to take action against celebrities who show a lack of respect for the sport.
"I honestly think we should have a 'chart of rudeness' in F1!" he wrote on Twitter. "Next time, take the grid passes from people who don't care and give it some deserving kids who will treasure the experience."
Chandhok's comments received a mixed reaction on social media.
One fan wrote: "Madness. The PR rep told him no and he persisted. Take the grid passes from people because they don’t want to speak to Sky Sports F1? Is it their event? Don’t be silly."
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Another said: "Totally agree why don't real fans get the tickets and passes and we don't need these fake fan celebs were here to see the racing and the drivers. If I was Martin I wouldn't even bother giving them there air time or publicity."
A third commented: "So just because you’re famous you’re not considered to be a human being? Cause it’s pretty normal to say no to an interview you never signed up for imo."
A fourth added: "Or maybe Martin needs to start taking no as an answer and not focus on people who clearly don’t want to be interviewed in order to start controversy."
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Thoughts on the controversy? Let us know in the comments.
Topics: Formula 1, Motorsport