Martin Brundle has warned that the Formula 1 World Championship is “far from over,” despite Mercedes’ current overall dominance across the first half of the campaign.
The German marque has won all but three races out of the 11 contested so far, with Andrea Kimi Antonelli the standout performer to lead the Drivers’ Championship by 50 points from Lewis Hamilton.
Hamilton has led a Ferrari revival in 2026, with his win in Barcelona heralding his title credentials, backed up by Charles Leclerc’s win in Silverstone.
But McLaren have come steaming back to the front with a commanding victory from Lando Norris in Hungary, having benefitted from a plethora of upgrades for the race.
This signals a likewise regeneration from the Woking-based squad, and writing in his Sky Sports F1 column, Brundle is certain that, if the MCL40 continues to perform as well as it did at the Hungaroring, then it can mount a title challenge between the next round in Zandvoort and the end of the season.
“If McLaren have made a decent upgrade step which translates well to other circuits, this was the team’s 14th Hungaroring victory, and with the top four ever closer, this championship is far from over,” he said.
Brundle ‘applauds’ Bahrain rescheduling
F1 is, of course, in the grip of a scheduling issue, with the cancelled Bahrain Grand Prix now being held in Sepang.
There is currently no word on the rescheduling of the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, with two other Middle Eastern races’ future dangling by a thread due to the ongoing geopolitical situation.
But F1 CEO Stefano Domenicali has hinted that, should the Qatar and Abu Dhabi races be forcibly canned, the season will end in Europe.
“There are still 291 points available assuming all the remaining races take place given the Middle East conflict,” Brundle continued.
“On that subject, the Bahrain GP will now be run at the very popular Sepang circuit in Malaysia. This is the same impressive lateral thinking and flexibility F1 and its partners showed during the pandemic and I applaud it.
“It sounds as if there will definitely be a European replacement race in late November or early December if Qatar and Abu Dhabi can’t take place. We may need to fit some headlights and wipers for that race but the teams and drivers will handle it in their stride as usual.”
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