Sky Sports F1 legend Martin Brundle questions McLaren’s ‘doomed’ strategy

Brundle holding a Sky microphone edited into the centre of Norris and Piastri facing each other in conversation — Photo: © IMAGO

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Martin Brundle questions McLaren’s ‘doomed’ F1 strategy

McLaren have made their rules clear to their drivers

Sam Cook Digital Journalist

Sports Journalist who has been covering motorsport since 2023

Saturday 18 October 2025 12:58

Broadcasting legend Martin Brundle has said that McLaren F1's strategy this season is 'doomed to fail.'

After a dominant year, McLaren have already achieved seven one-twos, and wrapped up the constructors' championship for the second year in a row.

But the team are hoping for more this season, and want either Lando Norris or Oscar Piastri to become their first drivers' champion since Lewis Hamilton in 2008.

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Piastri is currently 22 points ahead of Norris, with Red Bull's Max Verstappen 63 points behind the Australian, looking to spoil the party with six race weekends remaining.

Throughout 2025, McLaren have maintained 'papaya rules' to ensure fair racing between their two drivers, but have arguably taken it too far in recent race weekends.

At the Italian Grand Prix, the team swapped Piastri and Norris around after Norris had experienced a botched pit stop, leading to plenty of controversy, and now, the Brit has revealed he is going to experience 'repercussions' from his team for the rest of the season following his move on Piastri at the start of the Singapore GP.

Ahead of Friday’s action at the United States Grand Prix, Brundle was asked on Sky Sports F1 whether he still believed the gloves were off in the drivers’ championship battle despite the appearance that they have smoothed things over.

Brundle responded: "100 per cent, yes of course.

"There’s a championship to be won, and they’ve both got a fantastic car at McLaren. Max is appearing in the rearview mirrors quite quickly as well in the last few races."

The F1 legend then turned his attention to McLaren’s controversial handling of their driver lineup at recent race weekends, adding: "In many respects, this setup is doomed to fail. You’ve got two supremely competitive athletes working in a team environment, it’s always going to go wrong. It’s just a question of how the teams handle it."

What are Norris' repercussions?

The comments from Norris during Thursday's United States GP media day left the paddock speculating as to what his 'repercussions' may be.

McLaren have been coy about the kind of penalty that has been imposed on Norris, with McLaren Racing CEO Zak Brown saying it is a 'marginal' penalty due to Norris' gain from his move on Piastri in Singapore only being a 'marginal' gain.

Fellow Sky Sports F1 pundit Ted Kravitz asked Piastri ahead of the F1 action at the Circuit of the Americas what the repercussions might be, to which the Australian answered: "I can’t say what the repercussions are, it’s for the team to know… let your imagination run wild.

"Ultimately, he has taken responsibility and there is a form of repercussion for that yes."

Kravitz, keen to get to the bottom of this, pushed further, but was warned by a McLaren staff member that the details were the intellectual property of the team, and thus couldn’t be shared in the interview.

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