Martin Brundle names ‘left-field’ pick for breakout F1 driver of 2024 season

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Martin Brundle revealed his mid-season Formula 1 season awards at the Belgian Grand Prix on Saturday. The sport officially passed the halfway point of the campaign in Hungary last time out.

First, Brundle selected Carlos Sainz’s race-winning drive in Australia as the best performance of the year so far. Sainz’s very participation was in doubt after he underwent an appendectomy that forced him to miss the Saudi Arabian GP a fortnight earlier.

But the Spaniard outqualified Ferrari teammate Charles Leclerc to make it onto the front row alongside Max Verstappen. That meant that he was in a position to capitalise after Verstappen retired with brake issues.

Sky Sports F1 host Natalie Pinkham then asked Brundle to choose which of the 13 races to date had been the best. He went for the wet/dry British GP.

George Russell, Lando Norris and Lewis Hamilton all led the race at various stages. But it was Hamilton who scored an emotional victory, ending a two-and-a-half-year drought in the process.

Alongside his Mercedes team, he navigated his way through a race that started and finished in dry conditions either side of a treacherous shower. It was one of the most unpredictable Grands Prix of recent years.

Martin Brundle hails ‘outstanding’ Yuki Tsunoda

Brundle then moved on to his breakthrough driver of the season. This refers to the driver who has boosted his reputation the most with his performances.

He made what he considered a ‘left-field’ choice in RB’s Yuki Tsunoda. He feels the Japanese driver has raised his game under pressure from the Red Bull hierarchy.

“I’m going to a bit left-field here,” he said. “I’m going to say Yuki Tsunoda. I think he’s really been outstanding this year. He needed to move his game on, and he has done so.”

Tsunoda has been impressively consistent in F1’s midfield battle this year, scoring points in seven out of 13 races. He’s responsible for exactly two-thirds of RB’s tally, having got the better of an eight-time race-winner in Daniel Ricciardo.

While Ricciardo outpaced the penalised Tsunoda at Spa, there’s no question who’s been the better driver over one lap. The 24-year-old still leads the head-to-head 9-5.

What Helmut Marko has told Yuki Tsunoda about F1 future

As the stronger performer at junior team RB, one would assume that Tsunoda was the lead contender if Red Bull made a driver change. But there’s no sign of Christian Horner considering him to replace the embattled Sergio Perez.

Helmut Marko told Tsunoda last month that the upcoming races would be crucial. But he hasn’t heard anything since.

Now, it seems to be a shoot-out between Ricciardo and reserve driver Liam Lawson for the potential vacancy. Tsunoda has already said it would be ‘weird’ if they drafted in Lawson from the sidelines rather than promoting him.

But Horner has doubts over his mental strength, which is a bar to the move. Given that the hierarchy seems to have little faith in him, Tsunoda may be wishing they hadn’t picked up the option to extend his deal through 2025 – he would have the option to look elsewhere instead.