Martin Brundle claims this F1 moment blew title race wide open

F1 legend Martin Brundle has revealed the specific moment in this year's championship that he felt blew the title race wide open.

When the season opened with the Australian Grand Prix back in March, it showed us that Mercedes had come the closest to mastering the brand new chassis and power unit regulations and that McLaren's Oscar Piastri was going to have his work cut out to catch up to defending champion and team-mate Lando Norris.

Piastri crashed out of his home race before it had even technically begun before George Russell secured a statement win 58 laps later, signalling the Silver Arrows were the ones to watch.

For the first time since 2019, Mercedes brought home a 1-2 result at the opening round of the championship and they failed to falter across the next five rounds.

Norris on the other hand began to fade into the background as the papaya F1 squad suffered a double DNS at the following round in China and back-to-back DNFs at the races in Canada and Monaco.

But finally, after 10 rounds without a win, Norris picked up his first grand prix victory as reigning champion at last month's Hungarian Grand Prix, perhaps signalling a shift in the title fight.

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Brundle: 'F1 2026 championship is far from over'

In his review of the final race prior to the summer shutdown for Sky Sports F1, Brundle wrote after Norris' win: "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 are ever closer, this championship is far from over.

"There are still 291 points available assuming all the remaining races take place given the Middle East conflict."

Luckily for Norris, the previously cancelled Bahrain GP has now been rescheduled for October of this year, where the Sepang International Circuit in Malaysia will host the event.

This gives the Brit another chance to pick up a maximum of 25 points, something which could help him and his team greatly as they attempt to chip off the lead that Mercedes and Ferrari currently hold over them.

F1 2026 standings before summer break

Drivers' Championship

Constructors' Championship

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Written by

Kerry Violet - F1 News Editor

Having graduated from the University of Sheffield with a 2:1 in Journalism in 2022, Kerry continued her pursuit of finding a full-time position in motorsport through work with the F1 Arcade in London, where she got to meet true fans of the sport and make a live grand prix watch party memorable for them. It was here that she confirmed her dream of combining her background in journalism and love of motorsport, going on to volunteer with the female-led platform Empoword Journalism. Having completed stints as a screen editor and sports editor, Kerry landed her first F1-specific editorial role with GPFans and has thoroughly enjoyed continuing to work closely with the sport ever since. The access GPFans offers Kerry has allowed her to interview big names such as Naomi Schiff and David Coulthard and given her experiences she could only have dreamt of as a young F1 fan.

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