Brundle questions Verstappen's race: 'He was suddenly competing again'

Right from the start of the 2025 Formula 1 season, two drivers in particular were under pressure: Liam Lawson and Jack Doohan. As far as Martin Brundle is concerned, this puts the drivers in an unfair position. The analyst and former F1 driver also addresses the race of Max Verstappen, in whom Brundle saw something happen that he believes "raises questions".

Brundle sees confusing pace at Verstappen and Lawson under pressure

"There was some fairly desperate racing, blocking, and overtaking going on down the field, not least by Liam Lawson and Jack Doohan who are in many ways unfairly feeling exposed in their drives so early in the season. There could well be changes," Brundle wrote in his analysis for Sky Sports.

Verstappen drove a largely invisible race at the Shanghai International Circuit, but the pace suddenly picked up in his final stint. "It was about now that we remembered Verstappen was in the race as he started to find some grip," the former Formula 1 driver observes.

"Somehow on lower fuel, or simply track conditions, and probably even the realisation that he didn't need to babysit the tyres so much, this allowed him to catch the Ferraris. In fact Max would deliver his fastest and front-running lap time on the final tour, which is a bit confusing," Brundle added.

This article was written in collaboration with Nicole Mulder.