Verstappen and Hamilton deserve to share F1 title - Brundle

Verstappen clinched his first F1 world championship in Sunday's dramatic Abu Dhabi Grand Prix after a late Safety Car intervention and controversial call to set up a one-lap shoot-out for victory brought him back into contention. 

Hamilton had controlled the final round of the season and looked set to win both the race and a record-breaking eighth world title until Nicholas Latifi crashed his Williams at Turn 14 in the closing stages. 

While Brundle believes there is no doubt Verstappen is a worthy champion after winning more races and taking more podiums than any other driver, he felt a shared title would be the fairest outcome. 

"Does Max deserve the championship? Of course he does," Brundle wrote in his latest column for Sky Sports. 

"He led 652 laps compared with Lewis' 303 laps. He departed 15 of the 22 races leading the championship including the last seven. He won 10 races compared to eight for Lewis (yes I know, we'll get onto that shortly), and it was 18 podiums playing 17.

"And he didn't have the best of luck along the way, until the last few miles of course.

"Lewis would equally have deserved his eighth title, I wish they could share it to be frank. His raw speed, consistency, determination, style, class, and stamina, particularly in the closing stages, was outstanding as he delivered another blistering start in his 288th GP at approaching 37 years old.

"The final few laps in Abu Dhabi, when the world's eyes were on us in staggering numbers, were not our finest moment and some things have to change this winter. We certainly confused our fans on Sunday.”

Brundle’s comments are similar to ones made by two-time world champion Fernando Alonso after Sunday’s race. 

The Alpine driver suggested the title could be “split in two” between Verstappen and Hamilton, hailing both driver’s campaigns as “outstanding”. 

"It is going to be a big topic I guess, but if you take the 22 races, as I said on Thursday any of the two could be a world champion,” Alonso said. 

"I think more than any other year if you could split the trophy in two, this was the year to do it. Because both of them were outstanding."