Brundle: 'Hamilton and Verstappen will rise to the next level together'

The fight that everyone was hoping for before the season, is on! Verstappen versus Hamilton, Red Bull Racing versus Mercedes. Martin Brundle expects both drivers to reach a higher level than ever before in this battle, where they will fight for every point.

"This Hamilton/Verstappen battle is going to be season long and, as we know from history, when two top drivers fight like this they somehow transcend to an even higher plane. The focus from driver and team alike becomes so intense and concentrated", said the pundit in his column for Sky Sports F1.

One of the battlegrounds is the fastest lap, which for the last few years has been awarded a point. With more races than ever this season, this is almost a full race victory in points. And every point scored in this fight cannot be scored by someone else, according to Brundle's logic. This could also include Valtteri Bottas and Sergio Perez.

"There will be 20+ points available for fastest lap this year, and Lewis leads the championship by that single point from Imola, which was a net two points in reality as he stole it from Max V. That summarises how close this battle could be in the next few months", Brundle said.