Martin Brundle has chosen F1 championship runner-up Max Verstappen as his driver for the 2025 season.
Verstappen completed third within the remaining race of the season, the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, lacking out on profitable his fifth consecutive world championship, simply two factors behind McLaren’s Lando Norris, who gained his first drivers’ title.
Crimson Bull’s Verstappen gained extra races (eight) and took the identical variety of pole positions than another driver in 2025, regardless of utilizing an inferior automobile to McLaren for a lot of the marketing campaign.
An unimaginable turnaround after the summer season break noticed Verstappen slender the hole from 104 factors to simply two factors in 9 races, bringing him perilously near turning into the five-time world champion.
And it was the Dutchman who impressed Sky Sports activities F1’s Brundle probably the most.
“That may be Max (Verstappen),” Brundle mentioned at a motorsport occasion. “Land did an ideal job. He bought a very sturdy head and had an ideal drive.
“In a few of the races he gained, he was fully in management in a mode I’ve hardly ever seen in my 40 years in F1.
“However I’ve to say Max remains to be the perfect driver on the grid.”
Norris additionally praised
In his remaining post-race column for Sky Sports activities F1, Brundle was stuffed with reward for the way Norris had dealt together with his setbacks all year long.
“Congratulations to Lando Norris on being topped F1 World Champion after 24 wonderful however typically intense and difficult races. Victories in Melbourne, Monaco, Austria, Silverstone, Hungary, Mexico and Brazil, and a complete of 18 podium finishes had been highlights,” Brundle wrote.
“The worst moments had been colliding with teammate Oscar Piastri in Canada with a clumsy transfer, retiring with an oil downside in Zandvoort, not profiting from a nightmare weekend in Baku in seventh place, a technical disqualification in Las Vegas and a failure of crew technique in Qatar that left us fourth. It was a curler coaster season to say the least.
“To take care of all that, Lando has made nice strides in thoughts administration this season, frequently altering pole place to the lead on the finish of the primary lap, whereas slipstreaming your complete pack behind him from pole place. , instance of this was Mexico’s rampage into the primary nook. He positioned his automobile very properly, bought near the entrance within the pack of 4, utilized the correct quantity of braking in the precise locations, claimed the primary chicane cleanly, and simply dominated the race from then on.
“He was in a position to take care of stress conditions higher, in qualifying, within the race and out of doors the automobile. Steadily he stopped being so laborious on himself in public, which solely fed his rivals. However he nonetheless stayed true to who he was and the way he wished to behave within the race, and discovered to broadcast the moments he wished to criticize to the world.”
“His racecraft has all the time been good, however this 12 months it has been additional enhanced with sharper overtaking and protection, and tire administration that whispers victory for Pirelli in Budapest, a lot to the chagrin of Piastri.”
