Martin Brundle’s blunt ‘broken leg’ response after Zak Brown calls for return of 1980s Formula 1 rules

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Zak Brown and McLaren have called for changes to the Formula 1 rules after the incident between Lando Norris at the US Grand Prix. Norris received a highly controversial five-second penalty after overtaking Verstappen off the track.

McLaren point out that Verstappen also left the track, such was the aggressive nature of his defence. Indeed, George Russell received a penalty for a similar – though not identical – incident with Valtteri Bottas, when the stewards said he’d forced the Sauber wide.

The championship leaders feel that the officials spoiled what was an enthralling battle between F1’s newest rivals. And speaking on Sky Sports F1 after first practice at the Mexico City Grand Prix, Zak Brown called for the regulations to be relaxed.

Many have argued that McLaren should have instructed their driver to return the place so he could continue his attack without risking a sanction. But Norris has used a Christian Horner tactic to reshape the narrative, answering his own questions during his press appearances.

The 24-year-old felt he’d done nothing wrong at the time and had also spent much of his tyre life in chasing down the Red Bull. McLaren called him into the pits six laps later so he’d have the benefit of fresher rubber.

Martin Brundle didn’t seem impressed by what Zak Brown said about

Brown wants to see drivers ‘settle their differences’ on the race track. Back in the 1980s and 1990s, when Sky pundit Martin Brundle was racing, they had a ‘great’ arrangement where the stewards were more lenient.

“There weren’t these rules back when you were racing,” Brown said. “You kind of raced and just settled your differences on the track. I think we need to back a little bit to how it was done in the past. It worked great then.”

But Brundle was reluctant to look at his era through rose-tinted glasses. He says drivers had to regulate themselves because of the greater safety concerns.

Back in 1984, the Englishman broke both his ankles and feet in an accident in Dallas. Surgeons nearly resorted to amputation, so severe were his injuries.

10 years later, Brundle was struck on the head by Jos Verstappen’s Bennetton but escaped without serious injury. Ayrton Senna and Roland Ratzenberger both lost their lives earlier that season at the San Marino GP.

“If you went off [in that period], you were likely to break your legs or kill yourself,” Brundle told Brown. “There was a little bit of a persuasion not to run too far off the track back then.”

The advice Martin Brundle gave to Lando Norris after Max Verstappen incident

Brundle wants to see Norris race Verstappen harder going forward. He’s told him he must stop laying out a ‘welcome mat’ for the Red Bull driver on the inside of the corner.

Former McLaren man David Coulthard had advice for Norris too. Similar to Brundle, he urged him to force drivers onto his outside ‘for a change’.

More generally, there could be changes to F1’s much-maligned rules of engagement over the winter. McLaren feel Verstappen is exploiting the guidelines as they stand.

There won’t be any bulletproof solution. But Lewis Hamilton wants to see permanent stewards in the hope of improving consistency at the very least.