Martin Brundle reckons ‘a win is just around the corner’ for four-podium F1 driver in 2024

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Lewis Hamilton became the sixth different winner in 12 F1 races in 2024 when he took victory at the British Grand Prix last weekend. That’s already double the number from 2023, with half the season still to go.

Hamilton’s triumph – his first since Saudi Arabia 2021 – came just seven days after Mercedes teammate George Russell won in Austria. Russell capitalised on the late collision between Max Verstappen and Lando Norris to end the team’s 18-month wait for a Grand Prix win.

Verstappen had started the campaign in ominous fashion, winning four of the first five races by significant margins. Only a mechanical retirement in Australia – one that presented an opportunity for Carlos Sainz – denied him an early sweep.

But McLaren have been able to wipe out the gap, or even overtake Red Bull, with their upgrades. Norris finally silenced the ‘No-wins’ trolls at the Miami GP at the start of May.

Soon after, Charles Leclerc broke the ‘Monaco curse’ to give Ferrari their second victory of the season. Only once since 2008 have there been six or more winners in a single campaign (2012).

Sergio Perez could lose his seat at Red Bull, having failed to contend at the front as the team would have expected. Perez won twice in 2023 but hasn’t finished on the podium since the Chinese GP on 21 April.

Martin Brundle says first F1 win is coming for Oscar Piastri

The other member of the top-four teams yet to win is Oscar Piastri. The Australian is still waiting for his first F1 victory full stop, having only joined the grid at the start of 2023.

He’s scored podiums in four of his 34 races to date, including runner-up showings in Qatar, Monaco and Austria. Piastri would have been primed to win at the Red Bull Ring had he not seen a top-three qualifying time deleted for track limits, dropping him to seventh.

Speaking during Sky Sports F1’s coverage of the British GP, Martin Brundle suggested that Piastri’s propensity to keep his nose clean would stand him in good stead. He pointed out that he was the only driver on the grid without a DNF to his name this year.

Both Mercedes joined Verstappen in retiring in Australia, while Ferrari suffered a double DNF in Canada. If Piastri can combine his speed with reliability and the appropriate caution, Brundle feels it’s only a matter of time before he wins a race.

“The only driver to have completed every racing lap so far this season is Oscar Piastri,” he said. “If he hadn’t have lost that time in qualifying last weekend in Austria, he had a very, very good chance of winning that race, didn’t he? You sense a win is just around the corner for this young man.”

Mark Webber praise for ‘magnificent’ Piastri

Piastri also looked as if he was in a position to fight for the win at Silverstone. Hamilton ‘couldn’t believe’ how fast the two McLaren cars were in wet conditions as they both managed to pass the Mercedes duo.

That put Piastri second on the road before the transition to intermediate tyres, where the team opted to leave him out for an extra lap. They feared they’d lose multiple seconds if they ‘stacked’ him behind Norris.

As it turned out, the 23-year-old haemorrhaged time to his rivals as he crawled around a worsening track. This effectively dropped him out of contention, even if he displayed electric pace in his final stint.

The former F2 champion would have been disappointed with P4 in the circumstances. But manager Mark Webber nonetheless saluted Piastri’s ‘magnificent’ performance after a uniquely challenging afternoon.