McLaren handed 39-year-old reminder of potentially damaging team decision

Martin Brundle has pointed out the danger of McLaren's driver neutrality, arguing Max Verstappen and George Russell could prove a problem in the F1 drivers' championship as a consequence - but he has a solution.

The former F1 driver-turned-pundit emphasised how having two "number one drivers", as the Woking team is insistent upon, could leave Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris exposed to losing out on the title.

With the papaya squad seemingly cruising to a second consecutive constructors' championship, missing out on the drivers' crown again would be a substantial blow for the pair, as well as the team.

To illustrate his point, Brundle drew upon the 1986 F1 season, underlining how costly it could be for the Australian and Briton to take points off one another.

That year, the Williams line-up of Nelson Piquet and Nigel Mansell was beaten by Alain Prost in the McLaren, despite the Grove-based outfit easing to the constructors' crown.

"The problem McLaren are going to have is if Max Verstappen and George Russell keep pumping in the results, and Mercedes have got an update coming at Imola that they're quite excited about, but I'm sure they'll all improve to an extent," said the 65-year-old on Sky Sports F1's podcast, The F1 Show.

"If they're there, there's no doubt in my mind that Piastri and Norris will take points off each other.

"So they've got to be careful that they're not so focused on each other that somebody else comes in and wins the championship, as Alain Prost did in 1986."

A solution to the problem

Last season laid to bare McLaren's hesitance to prioritise one driver over the other. Brundle's concern is it will double-down on that ethos again this campaign - to its drivers' detriment.

The solution, in the Briton's eyes, is making a decision over who to back before one of the two is completely out of contention for the title, potentially around the summer break.

"The problem McLaren have got is, if you wait until somebody is mathematically out of the world championship, that's going to be October, November time, in this championship," he added.

"So, McLaren might have to take a decision before that to make a choice. It depends how it unfolds, but they won't be thinking about that until the summer break, at least."