Martin Brundle is anticipating a “truly epic” rest of the Formula 1 season after the result of the British Grand Prix.

For the last couple of years, there has been little title intrigue in the sport. After a blockbuster battle between Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen for the 2021 championship, the latter and his Red Bull team have dominated F1 for much of the time since.

But things have changed this year. First, McLaren began to take the fight to the defending champions with Lando Norris in particular giving Verstappen a hard time. And then Ferrari, after winning in Austrialia when the Dutchman suffered a DNF, did it again in Monaco as Red Bull had an off weekend.

Now, it is Mercedes’ turn to announce themselves as contenders again. George Russell picked up the pieces in Austria when Verstappen and Norris collided but Hamilton’s win at Silverstone, his first F1 victory for 945 days, was achieved on merit.

It presents the mouth-watering prospect of four teams being in contention for most races going forward and, by extension, eight drivers who could win. Writing in his Sky Sports column, Brundle could barely contain his excitement about it.

Recapping the Silverstone race, the former F1 driver wrote: “Verstappen lacked dry pace in his Red Bull in the early stages and says that he was imagining a fifth or sixth-place finish. But he stuck with it, worked well with his engineer, and fired up his new hard compound tyres very well to set off after Norris and Hamilton in the closing stages.

“He easily dispatched Norris, who was struggling for handling balance on the soft tyres, and then closed to within a second-and-a-half of Hamilton when the chequered flag was unfurled on lap 52 to a rapturous response from the crowd.

Martin Brundle is excited by how close the F1 balance of power is right now ( 
Image:
Getty Images)

“Max is not the fourth driver to feel he should have won the race, he was pleasantly surprised with second place and yet again extending his championship lead, to a healthy 84 points. Of course, the fourth driver who could have won did indeed do so, and in some style.

“Hamilton managed his tyres well in the final 14 laps and held off his old nemesis for his ninth victory at Silverstone, some 17 years after his first in F1, giving him 104 wins and 199 podium trophies in his career so far.

“He also became the sixth winner in the 12 races so far this season. We only had three winners in all last season, and I have no doubt that we are in for a truly epic 18 months of F1 racing now, before the all-new 2026 cars appear.”