Daily News 19

Tag: Alex Brundle

  • Mercedes ‘have got a problem’ if McLaren’s form continues, says Alex Brundle

    Mercedes ‘have got a problem’ if McLaren’s form continues, says Alex Brundle

    McLaren’s Monza Form Could Give Mercedes “a problem on their hands”, Warns Alex Brundle

    Alex Brundle has warned that Mercedes could face a major threat if McLaren carries its race-winning Dutch Grand Prix pace into Monza and the remaining races of the 2026 Formula 1 season.

    Lando Norris claimed his second consecutive victory of the season at Zandvoort. Benefiting from McLaren’s latest car upgrades, the 2025 champion navigated a chaotic race to beat Mercedes drivers Kimi Antonelli and George Russell.

    Norris extended his championship lead by finishing 11.5 seconds ahead of Antonelli, but Brundle believes the characteristics of the upcoming circuits will determine whether McLaren’s performance improvement represents a sustained challenge to Mercedes.

    “You’ve got to say, though, we’re coming off a pair of circuits that are less energetically starved in the way that we saw Mercedes dominate at Silverstone and be really strong at Spa,” Brundle told F1 TV.

    “There are going to be those circuits coming, and that effect hasn’t gone away. It’s going to be interesting to see how this McLaren form, for example, rolls on into Monza. If it’s the same there, then I think Mercedes have got a problem on their hands.”

    Palmer backs Mercedes to respond with Baku upgrade

    Former F1 driver Jolyon Palmer does not believe Mercedes will be overly concerned by Norris’s late title challenge, with the team reportedly expecting a significant upgrade package for the Azerbaijan Grand Prix.

    “Inevitably, the field was going to close up from Melbourne, and it has done with Ferrari, with McLaren, with Red Bull as well bringing upgrades,” Palmer explained.

    “Mercedes hit back, didn’t they, in Canada where they moved again further away from the field. That was their only real big hit of upgrades. So, I’m hearing Baku is going to be their big chance.

    “Obviously, Monza is such an outlier of a circuit that might suit them. Then we go to Madrid, which is a complete unknown for everybody. So, Baku is the one that they’ve targeted.

    “I don’t think they’re going to be losing sleep over Lando right now. He seems like he’s too far away. And when you look at Kimi still putting in the performances very consistently, I would say it’s such a long shot for Norris.

    “But for me, I think you could argue he’s the driver of the season. He’s put in so many top, top drives and now he has the car that he didn’t have earlier on, and he’s just smashing out the wins.”

    Source: www.motorsport.com

  • Alex Brundle Calls Arvid Lindblad’s Dutch GP Penalty “Harsh”

    Alex Brundle Calls Arvid Lindblad’s Dutch GP Penalty “Harsh”

    F1 TV analyst Alex Brundle has described Arvid Lindblad’s drive-through penalty at the Dutch Grand Prix as “harsh”, arguing that drivers should not be punished for making a secondary overtake while taking evasive action.

    Why Arvid Lindblad was penalised at Zandvoort

    The race at Zandvoort was disrupted on the opening lap when home favourite Max Verstappen crashed at Turn 14. Lindblad was one of the drivers behind the four-time world champion and, while avoiding the incident, passed Pierre Gasly’s Alpine on the approach to Turn 1.

    The stewards classified the move as a yellow-flag infringement and issued the Racing Bulls rookie a costly drive-through penalty.

    Speaking on F1 TV’s post-race show, Brundle sympathised with Lindblad’s position.

    “I think it is harsh. The accepted way to go about it as a driver is if you’re effectively avoiding the crash, you avoid the crash and you do everything that you can to make sure that you don’t become part of the accident,” Brundle explained.

    “It’s difficult to then add in extra things that the drivers have to be aware of during an incident to make sure that they don’t then pass a car secondarily to that.

    “It depends how far you are away from the incident. But if you haven’t actually passed a yellow flag and if you’re actually trying to get around the incident, I think it’s harsh then to penalise you for passing another driver while you’re actually taking evasive action.”

    Lindblad explains Dutch Grand Prix incident

    The 19-year-old Racing Bulls driver discussed the incident from his perspective after the race.

    “Max lost it, then he came across the track, and there was debris everywhere. I couldn’t really see anything,” Lindblad told F1 TV. “I tried to avoid making contact. I think I almost hit one of his tyres. Then I was just holding my line and trying to just go straight to not have any incident or anything.

    “Then I passed Pierre into Turn 1. But I didn’t see any flags or anything. So it was a bit of a shame. I also think the penalty is a bit harsh. I think we can all be honest. It took me out of the race, basically. It was quite extreme for such an incident, but fine. It is what it is.”

    Arvid Lindblad, Racing Bulls

    Photo by: Eric Le Galliot

    Source: www.motorsport.com