Murray Walker 'would have killed for' Verstappen and Perez F1 title battle

11 May 2023 , 13:56

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Red Bull have dominated the 2023 season so far, sparking some complaints from F1 fans (Image: HOCH ZWEI/picture-alliance/dpa/AP Images)

Martin Brundle expressed his disagreement with some Formula 1 fans as he compared this year's title battle between Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez to some of the races he used to commentate on with Murray Walker.

Known to many fans as the voice of F1, Walker provided television commentary for 25 years in spells with both the BBC and ITV. And, for some of that time Brundle's voice was often heard in tandem with his.

Walker retired from commentary in 2001 and sadly died in 2021, while Brundle is still a key member of F1 coverage today with Sky Sports. Like many, he has seen the complaints from some fans that, because of how dominant the Red Bull cars are this year, there is little intrigue to be found.

But, in his column containing thoughts from last weekend's Miami Grand Prix, Brundle said he felt there was much more action on Sunday than was the case at many past races.

He wrote: "A cautious Verstappen even lost a place on the opening lap, dropping to 10th, fully aware that he'd cruise past the pack in relatively short order as soon as DRS was enabled, and using his prodigious, metronomic speed and tyre management thereafter.

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"Of course, I'd rather there were at least two teams fighting for the victories – that would be much better. But believe me when I say that Murray Walker and I would have killed for that much race action 25 years ago in the commentary box on many occasions."

Legendary F1 commentator Murray Walker would have loved the title battle between the Red Bulls, Martin Brundle believes (Mirrorpix)

He did go on, thought, to express his belief that the new car designs, which were supposed to help promote overtaking, might be having the opposite effect.

Brundle added: "That doesn't mean to say we shouldn't focus on improving the racing and I am concerned that the 2023 cars, loaded with ever more downforce, are not helping in that respect.

"The Red Bull DRS success creates another fundamental issue in that they simply breeze past the opposition as I've described above, but shortening the length of the DRS zones (based on 2022 data) is not helping the rest of the field make passes. Quite a dilemma but nothing the FIA can really do there, the other teams simply must catch up."

Daniel Moxon