Former F1 driver Johnny Herbert believes Oscar Piastri is feeling the pressure as the race for the title intensifies ahead of the final six races of the season.
Piastri is 22 points ahead of Lando Norris in the F1 drivers’ rankings ahead of next weekend’s US Grand Prix.
The Australian dropped further down the points standings after the Singapore Grand Prix.
Herbert believes there is no more “cool” Piastri as the pressure of competing for the title mounts.
“We’re seeing little, little cracks of pressure from Oscar in 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 is mounting and when the pressure is on in the championship fight, Oscar is someone with a strong mentality who will try to shake off the negative result in Singapore and keep a positive mindset going into the next race.”
“It wasn’t a perfect result for Lando, but he was ahead of Oscar, down to 22 points. So he’s putting pressure on Oscar, but he’s doing a great job as well. He’s showing his speed again and they’re both very close anyway.”
“This is truly a place where they all demonstrate their inner strength and mental fortitude.
“The key to this is that McLaren winning the constructors’ championship for the second year in a row was very impressive so we let them race and now we’re releasing the drivers.”
Herbert defends Norris
Despite outperforming his teammate in qualifying, Piastri lost to Norris on the opening lap of the Singapore Grand Prix.
Piastri was unhappy with Norris’ level of aggression, which caused contact in turn three.
lando norris, mclaren
©XPB Images
Stewards took no action and McLaren decided not to intervene.
Herbert feels that passing Norris was within the rules.
“I don’t think there was anything wrong with what Rand did,” Herbert added.
“Obviously, we rubbed against each other a little bit, but that’s racing. And I think Oscar knows very well that it’s racing, because I think when he was asked to switch at Monza, he said, ‘That’s not racing.’
“And he was absolutely right about that, because sometimes that happens in racing. Sometimes you have a bad pit stop, but that’s just part of it.”