Martin Brundle, a Formula One pundit, hopes Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton might share the World Title this year.
Following a contentious season finale, Formula 1 commentator Martin Brundle believes both Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton deserved to win this year’s championship.
Verstappen defeated Hamilton by passing the Mercedes driver for the lead on the final lap of the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, despite appearing to be on the verge of missing out on the title.
A late Safety Car brought out by Nicholas Latifi allowed Verstappen to pit on Soft tyres, and F1 Race Director Michael Masi controversially elected to let the five cars between him and Hamilton unlap themselves before announcing one more lap of green flag running.
Verstappen took the lead after a late braking move into Turn 5, and he held off Hamilton down the next two straights to win the race.
“Does Max deserve the championship? Of course he does,” wrote Brundle in his column for Sky Sports.
“He led 652 laps compared with Lewis’ 303 laps. He departed 15 of the 22 races leading the championship, including the last seven. He won 10 races compared to eight for Lewis, and it was 18 podiums playing 17. And he didn’t have the best of luck along the way, until the last few miles, of course.
“Lewis would equally have deserved his eighth title. I wish they could share it to be frank. His raw speed, consistency, determination, style, class and stamina, particularly in the closing stages, was outstanding as he delivered another blistering start in his 288th GP at approaching 37 years old.”
F1 confused the fans
Due to the Safety Car procedure in the last laps of the Grand Prix, Verstappen’s victory was questioned.
Mercedes objected to two separate articles of the FIA’s Sporting Regulations, one of which was directed at Verstappen and the other at the race’s classification.
The latter was the most contentious because not all of the lapped cars unlapped themselves, and the rules dictate that when cars unlap the race leaders, the Safety Car should not pit on the same lap.
To avoid confusion among fans, Brundle believes that improvements must be done before the start of next season.
“The final few laps in Abu Dhabi, when the world’s eyes were on us in staggering numbers, were not our finest moment, and some things have to change this winter,” said Brundle. “We certainly confused our fans on Sunday.”
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