Yesterday at 10:30
Former F1 driver Johnny Herbert has urged McLaren not to introduce
team orders in the F1 drivers' title fight, insisting 2025 could be
Oscar Piastri's and Lando Norris' "only opportunity" to become
world champion. McLaren has opted against team orders the majority
of the campaign so far; however, did introduce them to some extent
in Austria following an overtaking attempt by Piastri. The
championship leader almost hit Norris at the Red Bull Ring,
resulting in a radio message that the attempt was over the limit.
It followed Norris crashing into Piastri in Canada. Piastri holds
a marginal eight-point lead over Norris in the drivers' standings,
a gap which reduced after the Briton won on home soil in the
British Grand Prix. It was set to be a sixth win of the season for
Piastri, only for a mistake whilst behind the safety car to hand
victory to his team-mate following a 10-second time penalty.
Piastri was heavily penalised for 'erratic braking', with Herbert
noting the fact that a negative for the 24-year-old became an
instant positive for Norris. Discussing Piastri's British GP
penalty and Norris securing victory, Herbert said during a
RacingNews365 interview: "He [Piastri] mucked it up for himself at
the end of the day. "But this is where you can take that
negativity that Oscar had in a positive way for Lando, winning his
first British Grand Prix, and that could be a very positive thing
for him in the coming races, because there is a positive vibe for
him. "He can feel, he can see that [Piastri's mistake] was
probably a pressure thing, as we saw with Lando in Canada, when he
drove into the back of Oscar. That was a precious situation I
think, and I think it was a very similar thing with Oscar." McLaren
drivers energy search With so little separating the two McLaren
drivers across the first half of the season, the same is expected
across the final 12 rounds, starting with the Belgian Grand Prix.
For a non-McLaren driver to win the title this year, something
extraordinary must happen to either Piastri or Norris, or for
someone to win several consecutive races. It is Piastri's and
Norris' to lose, something which brings with it additional pressure
due to both drivers searching for a maiden F1 drivers' title. As a
result, Herbert has urged both drivers to use all the energy they
can get and for the team to let them fight until the end. "It's
going to be fascinating, because those two are still going to grow,
and this could be their only opportunity to win a world
championship," added Herbert. "So they've got to throw every single
piece of energy that they personally have, their family can give
them, but also with the team at the same time. "Hopefully they can
give both drivers [energy], and I'm sure they will with the chance.
And hopefully it will never come a point where team orders will
come into play, because I think that would be an awful position to
put the drivers in. "And I just think it wouldn't be a good finish
to the season if that was the case, especially for the team, for
Formula 1, especially more so if one of the drivers loses out
because of that, I hope not, and I'm sure it won't."
