Martin Brundle believes Lando Norris’ comments about racing Lewis Hamilton at the Japanese Grand Prix underline a significant issue with F1’s new rules.
Norris beat Hamilton to fifth place in Sunday’s race, but only after they had exchanged positions multiple times. The McLaren driver said afterwards that ‘this is not racing’.
“Honestly some of the racing, I didn’t even want to overtake Lewis, it’s just my battery deploys, and I don’t want it to deploy but I can’t control it,” he said, via ESPN.
“So I overtake him and then I have no battery, so he just flies past. This is not racing, this is yo-yoing.”
Brundle says 2026 rules break the golden rule of F1
Martin Brundle was watching from home, and said he enjoyed seeing Hamilton go wheel-to-wheel with his new Ferrari teammate Charles Leclerc.
But he’s worried that drivers have lost a crucial element of control, something Norris pointed out after the race. The Sky Sports pundit believes this goes against one of F1’s core principles.
“Some of the overtakes, obviously, were too battery-driven,” Brundle told The F1 Show. “Others, I really enjoyed the action. I enjoyed, once again, seeing the Ferraris pouring into turn one side-by-side, almost touching, really good clean hard racing.
“It’s in there; it’s available if we can just get it right. Get the battery and all the deployment and all those words we hate using sorted out.”
He added: “I’m really pleased I got up early in the morning to watch the race… but overall: good, can do better.
McLaren driver Norris claimed that ‘this is not racing’ after finishing fifth ahead of Hamilton at Suzuka. He said that energy deployment was dictating battles more than skill or strategy.
This reflects a growing frustration among drivers about how much influence technology now has over what happens on track.
Sky Sports take positive approach to new F1 regulations
Planet F1 reports that Sky Sports in the UK have made a deliberate choice to highlight the excitement of the racing under the new rules, rather than focus on concerns about artificiality. It’s part of a wider effort to frame the changes positively.
From their perspective, it makes sense. They’re selling a product and want people tuning in, not turning away.
The report claims that Brundle, Button, Villeneuve, Chandhok and Davidson, all ex-F1 drivers, have been encouraged to show enthusiasm for the new era, even when there are complaints coming from within the paddock.
Brundle’s recent remarks on Sky Sports’ official podcast suggest that there is still some room for honest discussion within their coverage.
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