Herbert: 'Cool' Oscar is gone, the pressure pot is on
Oscar Piastri on the grid ahead of the Singapore GP - Photo: Race Pictures
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Johnny Herbert given the recent mistakes and outbursts from championship leader Oscar Piastri, believes the Australian is cracking under the title fight pressure, in which teammate Lando Norris is currently ramping on the pressure.
The cool Oscar Piastri that everyone was talking about at the beginning of the season is not there.- Johnny Herbert
After Norris came away with the P3 both McLaren teammates were fighting for, the Australian was left fuming on the radio over what he felt was a bad call by McLaren to not have the cars swap their places back given the contact that had ensued due to the British driver's overtake manoeuvre.
“We're seeing those little, tiny pressure cracks from Oscar from all his comments,” Herbert said.
“The cool Oscar Piastri that everyone was talking about at the beginning of the season is not there."
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Norris and Piastri celebrating McLaren's constructors' title in Singapore - Photo: Race Pictures
In Herbert's mind, Norris' re-emergence in the title fight is putting Piastri under pressure, something the former FIA Steward argues should be allowed by McLaren, given their recent clinching of their second Constructors' title in a row.
He added: “It wasn't the perfect result for Lando, but he was ahead of Oscar. It's come down to 22 points. So, he's piling the pressure on Oscar, but he's doing a great job as well. He's showing his speed once again and they're both very, close anyway.”
“This is really where they [Piastri and Norris] all show their inner strengths and mental strengths as well."
“The key to this is McLaren letting them race because they won the Constructors’ for a second year running which was very impressive, now it's letting their drivers go," Herbert concluded.
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Herbert is not alone
One of Herbert's former colleagues around the F1 tracks first as a driver, then as a fellow pundit, Martin Brundle, is also of the same idea. According to the legendary commentator McLaren should allow Norris and Piastri to "duke it out" in the Drivers' Championship. Read why here.
The championship standings now sees Norris close the gap to teammate Piastri down to 22 points. Whereas Max Verstappen, P3 in the leaderboard, has bridged the gap to the Australian driver down to 63 points, with 6 Grands Prix and 3 Sprint races left to go yet in the calendar.
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