Brundle writes off Verstappen’s title chances, names new frontrunner

After the Mexico City Grand Prix, there is a new championship leader in Formula 1. Lando Norris is now first in the standings being a point ahead of his teammate Oscar Piastri.

Defending world champion Verstappen is 36 points behind the Brit as well.

According to former F1 driver Brundle, unless the McLaren drivers make mistakes, one of them will be crowned this year and not the Dutchman.

He said on Sky Sports' The F1 Show podcast: "I believe Max has got a lot to do unless he has a few weekends like Austin. Because of the remaining four events, I believe McLaren will be faster in at least two of them."

Similarly to his column a week ago, when he referred to the Woking-based team having two drivers in the battle as their 'ace', Brundle pointed out the same advantage again.

He continued: "Max doesn't have a rear gunner up there. And every so often, a Ferrari or a Mercedes is grabbing the bigger points, the top three points as well."

The former driver also expects McLaren to have some strong weekends left on the calendar.

Brundle concluded: "I believe it's between the two McLaren drivers, unless they step on their own tails and hand it to Max, because Max really effectively needs 12 or 15 points a weekend to compensate for weekends, I believe in Qatar, for example, the McLaren will be stronger, probably Abu Dhabi as well.

The season continues in two weeks’ time at Interlagos, where the Dutchman claimed a dominant victory in tricky conditions last year.

A new championship leader, and many talking points in Mexico City. Check out the latest episode of GPblog's F1 Paddock Update here!

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