Martin Brundle says ‘brave and brilliant’ racer was one of his drivers of the day in Mexico

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Martin Brundle has reserved special praise for Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton after his fantastic drive at the Mexico City Grand Prix.

Brundle was writing in his column for Sky Sports after an eventual race in the middle of the final triple-header of the season.

As soon as Max Verstappen got the better of both Ferraris going into the first corner on Sunday, the battle for the race win was already over.

Ferrari would have been aiming to dominate the rest of the podium especially after Sergio Perez retired following his collision with Charles Leclerc.

However, they didn’t count on Lewis Hamilton’s electric pace that saw him finish runner-up to Verstappen.

Mercedes absolutely nailed the 38-year-old’s strategy before and after the red flag brought out following Kevin Magnussen’s crash.

Hamilton was trailing the Ferraris before pitting early and splitting the pair after they finally changed their tyres.

Brundle has been raving about Hamilton’s drive after the restart as he chased down and overtook Leclerc in Mexico.

It says a lot about how this season has gone and that he was delighted with the result despite being so far behind Verstappen.

If he’s going to return to the top step of the podium, he may be relying on a technical fault from a team well known for their incredible reliability.

Brundle raves about Hamilton in Mexico

Lando Norris’s drive from the back of the grid to fifth earned him the Driver of the Day award, but he wasn’t the only Brit to have a storming Sunday.

Speaking about the seven-time world champion, Brundle said: “Another contender for that would have been Lewis Hamilton who grabbed second place.

“It’s a measure of how dominant the Verstappen/Red Bull combo is that Lewis was thoroughly pleased with that.

“There’s been times when he would have been crestfallen with second place, but particularly his overtake on Leclerc was brave and brilliant in equal measures.

“Lewis also scored a point for fastest lap on the last tour and so is now only 20 points behind Perez for second in the drivers’ standings.”

As Brundle mentions, Hamilton’s performance in Mexico has put Sergio Perez firmly in his sights in the Drivers’ Championship.

He’s normally very quick in Brazil and will hope he can leapfrog the Mexican in the final three race weekends to finish second in the standings.

The Mercedes has slowly improved throughout the season and Hamilton’s form has improved significantly.

He showed why he’s still a world-class driver at the weekend and alongside George Russell, they’ll be hoping to challenge the Red Bulls properly in 2024.