Brundle: 'Knowing Hamilton always comes back strong after the summer break'

Thanks to the last two races of the first half of the season, Mercedes with Lewis Hamilton are on top of both rankings. That's while Red Bull and Max Verstappen look to be the faster combination so far this season. 

To SkySports Martin Brundle that he sees this as well. He also knows how good Hamilton is during the second half of the season. Especially at the beginning.

"We know that Lewis always comes back incredibly strong and ready after the summer break, we've seen that in previous seasons. I'm sure Red Bull were thinking at the break, 'How did we lose such a big lead in the championship?' And I still think like that. It seems like they had the momentum and the speed and had everything in their favour, so it's a big reset."

Upcoming triple-header of great importance

With three races in a row, it's clear that at the start of the second half of the season there is an immediate opportunity for Verstappen to set the tone.

"There are a total of 81 points available over the next three weekends, especially with the sprint race in Monza (three extra points), so this is a critical stage in the season for both of them. Red Bull need to come back and need some luck. Red Bull needs to come back and have some luck. They've had a lot of bad luck, for example in Baku with that puncture, they need to come back and turn this around and beat Mercedes here, purely on pace, if they want to dominate this championship again."

Whether Verstappen can find his form again during the next three races will become apparent from this weekend. At Spa, the triple-header for the Dutchman and his team will kick off.