McLaren’s Monza Form Could Give Mercedes “a problem on their hands”, Warns Alex Brundle

Alex Brundle has warned that Mercedes could face a major threat if McLaren carries its race-winning Dutch Grand Prix pace into Monza and the remaining races of the 2026 Formula 1 season.

Lando Norris claimed his second consecutive victory of the season at Zandvoort. Benefiting from McLaren’s latest car upgrades, the 2025 champion navigated a chaotic race to beat Mercedes drivers Kimi Antonelli and George Russell.

Norris extended his championship lead by finishing 11.5 seconds ahead of Antonelli, but Brundle believes the characteristics of the upcoming circuits will determine whether McLaren’s performance improvement represents a sustained challenge to Mercedes.

“You’ve got to say, though, we’re coming off a pair of circuits that are less energetically starved in the way that we saw Mercedes dominate at Silverstone and be really strong at Spa,” Brundle told F1 TV.

“There are going to be those circuits coming, and that effect hasn’t gone away. It’s going to be interesting to see how this McLaren form, for example, rolls on into Monza. If it’s the same there, then I think Mercedes have got a problem on their hands.”

Palmer backs Mercedes to respond with Baku upgrade

Former F1 driver Jolyon Palmer does not believe Mercedes will be overly concerned by Norris’s late title challenge, with the team reportedly expecting a significant upgrade package for the Azerbaijan Grand Prix.

“Inevitably, the field was going to close up from Melbourne, and it has done with Ferrari, with McLaren, with Red Bull as well bringing upgrades,” Palmer explained.

“Mercedes hit back, didn’t they, in Canada where they moved again further away from the field. That was their only real big hit of upgrades. So, I’m hearing Baku is going to be their big chance.

“Obviously, Monza is such an outlier of a circuit that might suit them. Then we go to Madrid, which is a complete unknown for everybody. So, Baku is the one that they’ve targeted.

“I don’t think they’re going to be losing sleep over Lando right now. He seems like he’s too far away. And when you look at Kimi still putting in the performances very consistently, I would say it’s such a long shot for Norris.

“But for me, I think you could argue he’s the driver of the season. He’s put in so many top, top drives and now he has the car that he didn’t have earlier on, and he’s just smashing out the wins.”

Source: www.motorsport.com