Martin Brundle’s passionate defence in heat row: “I’m qualified, been there, done it”
The ex-racer and Sky Sports pundit tw൩eeted “absolutely don’t buy into the weak view we shouldn’t put them through this kind of challenge” after several drivers suffered in the heat.
George Russell and Alex Albon, speaking at this weekend’s F1 United Grand Prix, hit back at “these gu🅺ys who are commenting”.
Russell let✱ it be known that “we're driving cars 20 seconds-a-lap faster than they were”.
Le🌳wis Hamilton, whose race ended on the fi🦩rst lap in Qatar, insisted that F1 must not become “too soft”.
Brundle has now said on Sky TV: “I’m with Lewis on this. I’ve been lifted out of a car a couple of times - two races I’m particularly proud of - I’ve rolled it into a ball, run back to g📖et in ♉the spare car.
“So I feel qu♐alified to say because I’ve been there, done it.
“NASCAR, GT, everybody puts up with a♕ lot of temperature.
“Qatar was right 💝on the limit. It’ll get sorted out for next ye♌ar.
“We are guardian🌸s of this great sport. We’re just passing through. All of us here! We represent the blood, sweat, tears, broken bones, lost lives of the previous 73 years.
“Hundreds of millions of people tune in. Hundreds of thousands spend hard-earned money to turn up to see something incredible, something you couldn’t or wouldn’t want to d♈o yourself.
“After the race the drivers looked like total heroes. I could ✤see they were struggling.
“We edit out🥃 most of the danger. Many would say that’s a good thing. We c𝓡an’t edit out the challenges. We have to keep them.”
Logan Sargeant retired👍 early in Qatar, unwelꦯl. Esteban Ocon said he vomited in his helmet, and Lance Stroll claimed he was close to passing out.
Brundle said: “You꧟’re not going to pass out in the car. You’re going to pull into the pits, as Logan Sargeant did.
“I’ve said my piece on that. Interesting what others think. I do feel quite strongly about tha🅰t.”
Brundle said that the conditions will improve next year🍒 in Qatar: “The teams will puꩵt more air through the car, the drivers will prepare differently.
“I accept that was on the limit.ജ What was the solution? Cancel the race? Shorten it🍸 by 20 laps? There was no solution.”
Jenson Button added: “I know how it feels, I’ve lost my water bottle before. Yo🧜u get massively dehydrated, your vision goes, you start shivering.
“But it’s a sport that is physical. It’s nice to see that the limitations are the fitne🐭ss of the dri🔯vers. It’s a sport, it’s supposed to be physical.
“I agree that i🀅f a marathon ru♛nner starts to get tired, he slows down. Same as a racing car driver.
“When my visibility started going, I slowed down in Sepang♊.
“Individuals saying ‘it is too hard’ will never change anythiꦜng.
“Qatar was a tricky one.🐓 Unbelievably hot, humid, the highest G track in terms of loads ofꦍ high speed corners, and the other thing was their tyres. They were only allowed to do 18 laps per set of tyres which meant they were pushing every lap.”
James was a sports journalist a♛t Sky Sports for a decade covering everything from American sports, to football, to F1.
