George Russell defended over 'arrogant' accusations in Max Verstappen desire

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Johnny Herbert has insisted the "best drivers are arrogant" in F1 to advocate on behalf of George Russell, as many people who do not like how the Mercedes driver conducts himself. The 27-year-old has not always enamoured himself to fans, but his compatriot has maintained those racing in F1 require an "element of arrogance" to achieve success on track. In particular, the British driver has not shied away from standing up to Max Verstappen, who he feels has often bullied his opponents, both on and off the circuit. Tempers between the pair flared towards the end of last year, culminating with a war of words in Qatar and the season finale in Abu Dhabi. Whilst those tensions have subsided for now, Herbert wants their rivalry to extend to the asphalt, arguing a direct fight would provide box-office entertainment. "Russell is delivering," the former F1 driver and steward told AceOdds . "I love his demeanour and confidence, people find it arrogant, but all the best drivers are arrogant. You have to have an element of arrogance to be successful on the race track. "We want to see Russell go head-to-head with Max Verstappen, because they producing some exciting racing together, they had their disagreements on and off the track and it will continue." Russell's 'impressive' advantage over Antonelli Russell has started the current F1 season in fine form, comfortably assuming the team leader role at Mercedes after the departure of Lewis Hamilton to Ferrari and the Brackley squad promoted highly-touted rookie Kimi Antonelli to a race seat. That seamless transition has been accompanied by a numerous strong results on track, with the three-time grand prix winner adding four podium finishes to his haul across the opening six rounds. The driver himself does not believe he has taken a significant step forward and Herbert is not surprised by how well he is performing. "I'm not surprised by George Russell's speed or consistency this season, he's proving a lot of people wrong," the 60-year-old explained. "He has a very smart head on his shoulders. "Russell is doing all this with a young whippersnapper in Kimi Antonelli as his teammate, who has the backing of Toto Wolff. There's been about three-tenths difference between them, which is impressive from Russell to create that gap. "Yes, it's Antonelli's first season, but he did thousands of kilometres during last season, so he was more than ready to get in the car."