06/05/2025 18:10
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."
