Martin Brundle’s passionate defence in heat row: “I’m qualified, been there, done it”
The ex-racer and Sky Sports pundit tweeted “absolutely don’t buy int𒅌o 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 b𒈔ack at “these guys who are commenting”.
Russell let it be known that “we're driving cars✤ 20 seconds-a-lap faster than they were”.
Lewis Hamilto🥂n, whose race ended on the first 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 𒈔a car a couple of times - two races I’m particularly proud of - I’ve rolled it into a ball, run back to get in the spare car.
“So I feel qualifie✤d to say because I’ve been th♓ere, done it.
“NASCAR, GT, everybody puts up with a lot of te🌱mperature.
“Qatar was right on t⛎he limit. It’ll get sorted out for next year.
“We are guardians 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 ไyears.
“Hundreds of millions of people tune in. Hundreds of thousands spend hard-earned money to turn up to see something incr🌠edible, something you couldn’t or wo𒐪uldn’t want to do yourself.
“After the race the drivers looked like🍌 total heroes. I could see they were struggling.
“We edit out mos💖t of the danger. Many would say that’s a good thing. We can’t edit out the challenges. We have to keep tꦉhem.”
Logan S🌄argeant retired early in Qatar, unwell. 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 ca🐼r. You’re going to pull into the pits, as Logan Sargeant d𓆏id.
“I’ve said my piece on that. Interesting what others think. I do ♌feel qui🍌te strongly about that.”
Brundle said that the conditions will improveඣ next year in Qatar: “The teams will put mor𓆉e air through the car, the drivers will prepare differently.
“I accept that was on the limit. What was the solution? Caไncel 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. You get m🌠assively 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 fitness of the drivers. It’s a 🐬sport, it’s supposed to be physical.
“I agree that if a marathon runner starts to get tired, h൩e slows down. Same as a racing car driver.
“When my✨ visibility started going, I sl♔owed down in Sepang.
“Indiviꦯduals saying ‘it is too hard’ will never change 𓂃anything.
“Qatar was a tricky one. Unbelievably hot, humid, the highest G track in terms of loads of high speed corners, and the other thing was their tyres. They were only allowed to do 18 laps ꦆper set of tyres which meant they were pushing every lap.”
James was a spor🍃ts journalist at Sky Sports for a decade cove💧ring everything from American sports, to football, to F1.
