Yesterday at 06:30
Oscar Piastri is starting to show "cracks" in his battle against
Lando Norris for the drivers' title, according to former F1 driver
Johnny Herbert. Piastri ended last weekend's Singapore Grand Prix
in fourth place, one position behind Norris. The result followed an
opening lap clash between the pair, one that Piastri took issue
with as he felt he was unfairly shunted out of the way by Norris.
Piastri voiced his frustration with McLaren's call over team radio
after the Woking-based squad opted not to intervene and order the
cars to swap positions. As the F1 title battle enters its final
stages, Herbert believes Piastri's annoyance at the situation is a
sign he is beginning to feel pressure. "We're seeing those little,
tiny pressure cracks from Oscar from all his comments," Herbert
told BettingLounge . "The cool Oscar Piastri that everyone was
talking about at the beginning of the season is not there. "The
pressure's building and when that pressure pot builds in a
championship battle, it's the one who has that stronger mentality
to try and get rid of that negative Singapore result for Oscar but
then have the positivity going into the next race. "It wasn't the
perfect result for Lando, but he was ahead of Oscar. It's come down
to 22 points." Let the drivers go Singapore's race marked the
third consecutive occasion Norris has finished ahead of Piastri,
allowing him to further narrow the gap in the drivers' title race
to 22 points. With just six races remaining, Herbert has called on
McLaren to let their drivers race freely without any team orders,
now that the constructors' championship has been wrapped up. "He's
piling the pressure on Oscar, but he's doing a great job as well,"
Herbert said. "He's showing his speed once again, and they're both
very close anyway. "This is really where they all show their inner
strengths and mental strengths as well. "The key to this is
McLaren letting them race because they have won the constructors'
for a second year running, which was very impressive. Now it's
[about] letting their drivers go."
