McLaren’s ‘ace card’ revealed as Martin Brundle delivers bad news for Max Verstappen | F1 | Sport

Martin Brundle believes that McLaren’s numerical advantage will serve as an ‘ace card’ for Andrea Stella’s squad during the final five rounds of the 2025 campaign. Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris are looking to fend off a late charge from Max Verstappen to push their World Championship bids over the line.

After Piastri won the Dutch Grand Prix in Zandvoort at his team-mate’s expense, the 24-year-old was 34 points ahead of Norris in second and over 100 points ahead of third-placed Verstappen.

Now, following Verstappen’s sweep of the United States Grand Prix and sprint race, the Dutchman is only 40 points behind the current World Championship leader. Norris, meanwhile, has out-scored his team-mate in each of the last four events, trimming his personal deficit to only 14 points.

However, while the moment appears to be with Verstappen, who has won three of the last five Grands Prix with two second places, Sky Sports F1 co-commentator and pundit Brundle believes that McLaren still have an advantage over the reigning world champion.

“Verstappen has scored 119 of a possible 133 points in the last five races and closed down Piastri’s advantage by 60 points in the last four events, now just 40 behind,” Brundle wrote in his Sky Sports column.

“At that rate, he will be champion, but some of the tracks coming up should ensure that normal service resumes for McLaren, although there is no doubt that the Red Bull is a better all-round car now and Max is on peak form. McLaren‘s ace card is that it’s two against one, and they are going to need to play that very well on every GP weekend until and including Abu Dhabi.

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Should Verstappen continue to close, team principal Stella and CEO Zak Brown might have to make an uncomfortable decision about prioritising one of their two drivers. However, with Norris in better form than his team-mate, it would be an impossible choice for the McLaren management duo to decipher.

The saving grace for the Woking-based squad is the pressure for Verstappen to deliver perfection every weekend, as rival boss Toto Wolff explained. “So the underdog always has a little bit of an easier psychological advantage because of the probability,” the Mercedes team principal said in Austin.

“The odds are definitely against Max. If you look at the probability, that’s very low, one DNS can change everything, and I think that affects the driving also. How aggressive can you actually go for an overtake? You can see with Lando today, he’s done it at the end, but it was tricky at times to decide whether you keep your nose, put your nose in, or not.”