Former F1 star and FIA steward Johnny Herbert has called Oscar Piastri’s approach to the lap-one battle with Lando Norris as ‘uptight’, claiming that the Australian put himself in a compromising position by getting too close to Max Verstappen.
Piastri started the Singapore Grand Prix from third on the grid with team-mate and title rival Norris in fifth, but heading out of Turn Three, he was staring at the rear wing of his McLaren colleague after nail-biting contact on the corner exit.
The Australian, often praised for his calm attitude and stable radio communications, demanded that McLaren tell Norris to hand the place back, but his pit wall sided with Norris, and he was forced to accept a fourth-place finish. Piastri now travels to Austin having failed to beat his team-mate in each of the last three Grands Prix.
According to Herbert, there was nothing wrong with Norris’ aggressive overtaking on lap one. “That was a good piece of racing,” he told BettingLounge. “To be honest, the guy that put himself in that position was Piastri himself.
“Because he got close to Max which ran him a little bit wide, and he lost a bit of momentum, which allowed Lando to go down the inside but then around the outside and on the inside of turn three. Okay, they touched, he had a little bit of a wiggle; he touched Max as well.
“But that’s what it’s all about, that’s what I want to see, and I think that’s what the fans want to see. That’s exactly what I would expect a racing driver of the calibre of Oscar and Lando and Max, to do. But for him to come over to the radio and say, well, that’s not a team thing, and basically give me the place back, was bizarre.
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“They’re using the papaya rules to try and benefit themselves. I’m really glad the stewards didn’t get involved, and the team didn’t get involved. It was right for Lando and wrong for Piastri to be so uptight about it in the moment and then annoyed with the situation later on.”
Herbert’s assessment was echoed by Norris, who made strong comments to the media after sealing a third-place finish behind George Russell and Verstappen. “Anyone on the grid would have done exactly the same thing as what I did,” he said. “So I think if you fault me for just going up the inside and putting my car on the inside of a big gap, then, yeah, I think you shouldn’t be in Formula One.”
With six rounds of the 2025 campaign remaining, Piastri’s lead over Norris has been trimmed to just 22 points and with momentum swinging towards the Brit, the onus is on the Melbourne-born racer to rediscover his ice-cool demeanour in Austin next weekend.
