F1 champion’s Lewis Hamilton admission has Martin Brundle worried

An edited image of Lewis Hamilton furious and Martin Brundle concerned with a Sky microphone — Photo: © IMAGO

F1 News & Gossip

F1 champion’s Lewis Hamilton admission has Martin Brundle worried

Lando Norris revealed some troubling info last month after overtaking Lewis Hamilton

Chris Deeley

Tuesday 7 April 2026 13:55

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There was a lot to discuss coming out of last month's Japanese Grand Prix, but there's one thing in particular that has Sky Sports' Martin Brundle concerned.

The long-time commentator and former driver pulled out one specific thing that reigning F1 champion Lando Norris said about the race, which the broadcasting veteran said the sport has 'got to' change.

Norris revealed there were times in the race when he didn't want to try an overtake on Lewis Hamilton, with whom he was fighting for much of the race, but his battery deployment system meant he had little choice. That, in turn, led to Hamilton breezing back past him thanks to the McLaren's depleted battery.

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Specifically, Norris said: "Honestly some of the racing, I didn't even want to overtake Lewis, it's just my battery deploys, and I don't want it to deploy but I can't control it. So I overtake him and then I have no battery, so he just flies past."

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Brundle: Drivers shouldn't have any surprises

That, Brundle said on The F1 Show after the race, is an absolutely unacceptable state of affairs.

Calling the system a 'big issue for the FIA', Brundle called for change as quickly as possible – citing the sport's own regulations about drivers being 'alone and unaided' in driving the car.

“One thing that really worried me was Lando Norris saying 'I didn't want to overtake Lewis Hamilton, but my battery decided it did and then I had nothing to defend with'," Brundle said.

“Now there's a regulation in Formula 1. It's been around forever. It's very simple and far reaching: ‘The driver must drive the car alone and unaided’, and I think that's what I talked about linearity… the driver shouldn't have any surprises by a self-learning car.

"They've got to get rid of that. I'm sure it's not the work of a moment, but the power delivery must be proportional to what the driver is doing with the throttle. That's a fundamental. It has to has to be linear as I said. So it's a big issue for the FIA.”

Norris explains F1 battery issue

Norris went into more depth about the yo-yo nature of the new deployment system after the race, complaining that there is 'not enough control' for those driving the cars.

"The problem is," he said, "it deploys into 130R, I have to lift, otherwise I'll drive into him, and I'm not allowed to go back on throttle. If I go on throttle, my battery deploys, and I don't want it to deploy, because it should have cut, but because you lift, and you have to go back on and it redeploys.

"There's nothing I can do about it, so there's just not enough control for a driver, and that's why you're just too much at the mercy, of what's behind you, and that's just not how it should be."

F1 Lando Norris 2026 regulations Martin Brundle