F1 News

Martin Brundle discusses the exciting midfield battle

Martin Brundle discusses the exciting midfield battle

05-09-2019 12:09

The battle in the midfield is pretty tight. The fight behind Carlos Sainz is becoming more and more interesting as the Formula 1 season progresses. Just 15 points separate Kevin Magnussen in 16th, to Daniil Kvyat in 8th. Sky Sports pundit Martin Brundle gives his opinion on how the Belgium Grand Prix has changed the picture for the midfield drivers. 

"Also caught up was Daniel Ricciardo in his hitherto fast Renault, along with other contacts. My heart sank at this point because after four cracking F1 races I feared we might be in for a steady one. Admittedly once again the DRS rear wing was rather too effective but we saw some impressive overtakes and side-by-side action," Brundle said in his column

The Australian failed to score during the Belgium Grand Prix after some good results prior to the summer break. In his new colours, it looked as though Ricciardo had finally found some form. He'll need to do better if he wants to challenge Kvyat. 

"Lando Norris was robbed of a great fifth place by unreliability. He navigated the first corner very intelligently and his pace was solid on a weekend where McLaren wasn't shining that much. I lost a third-place just eight corners from home in Hungary 1994 driving for McLaren due to unreliability, and it still annoys me a little bit today. It's awful to be robbed on the last lap after you've done the job and taken the risks," Brundle continued. 

"Alex Albon didn't make much ground initially in his first Red Bull drive, but then came to the fore on fresh soft tyres to overtake many and steal Norris's fifth place. Timely, and well driven, especially in his duel with Sergio Perez in the closing stages, who had a fine race for Racing Point."