Martin Brundle calls for F1 rule change after 'heartbreak' for Kimi Antonelli

Martin Brundle has urged F1's rulemakers to rethink the sport's track limits regulations after championship leader Kimi Antonelli was handed a five-second time penalty during the closing stages of Sunday's British Grand Prix,

It was a punishment that the F1 driver-turned-commentator believes should never have been applied, given the Italian gained no competitive advantage.

Antonelli was running second and closing on race leader Charles Leclerc when his front-left wheel shield failed on lap 41 of 52, severely compromising the handling of his Mercedes W17.

As the 19-year-old wrestled the damaged car, he was forced off track multiple times, resulting in four track-limits violations. The fourth triggered an automatic five-second penalty under the current regulations.

The stewards acknowledged the mechanical issue but ruled it did not constitute a "justifiable reason" to leave the track, applying the standard sanction.

Antonelli, who had pitted and dropped down the order, eventually crossed the line in ninth under a late safety car, but the penalty demoted him to P16 in the final classification.

'Track limits are a performance penalty'

Brundle was unsparing in his criticism during the Sky Sports F1 coverage. "Track limits are a performance penalty, not a survival penalty," he said, drawing a clear distinction between drivers deliberately running wide for lap time and a driver simply trying to nurse a broken car home.

He went further in his post-race analysis, writing that "it was heartbreaking for him, but another lesson learned as he did not give clear enough information on his way into the pits about his problems."

The former F1 driver also called for the regulations themselves to be rewritten. "That rule needs adjusting; track limit penalties are for when drivers gain a competitive advantage by cutting corners or running wide and so able to carry more speed," Brundle argued.

Despite the disastrous outcome at Silverstone, Antonelli still leads the F1 drivers' championship on 179 points, 25 clear of team-mate George Russell, who finished second behind Leclerc. Lewis Hamilton completed the podium in third.

Mercedes accepted the penalty under the existing rules and chose not to contest it, but the incident has reignited a broader debate about whether the track limits framework is fit for purpose when circumstances beyond a driver's control are involved.

Brundle did highlight, however, that without the late Max Verstappen-induced safety car, Antonelli's punishment would have essentially been redundant.

He concluded: "Nonetheless, his pace was such that he would have cycled through the penalty and still finished ahead of the two Alpines, until lap 48 when Verstappen's rear wing didn't close properly to re-establish full downforce and, for the second time in eight days, albeit apparently for slightly different reasons, spun him off the track."