who dominated from pole to take victory<\/a> and reclaim the lead in the drivers\u2019 championship for the first time since Bahrain, one point ahead of Piastri.<\/p>\nIt marked Piastri\u2019s fourth consecutive race without a podium, while Max Verstappen also continues to close in, now just 36 points behind Norris and 35 behind Piastri, keeping the championship fight tense and unpredictable with four rounds remaining.<\/p>\n
Herbert told Speedcafe that Piastri\u2019s calm, unreadable demeanour could be a key advantage as the championship heads into its final stages, adding that his newfound position as the chaser could work to his advantage.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe chaser, it\u2019s always less pressure,\u201d the three-time race winner said.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd that is always something. But they\u2019re so, so close.<\/p>\n
\u201cDoes he change anything? No, he doesn\u2019t change anything, because has he lost what he had at the beginning of the season? Absolutely not.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHas every great Formula 1 driver won every single race of a Formula 1 season? No. Because it doesn\u2019t work like that.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut you\u2019ve just got to be able to package everything that\u2019s around you within that bubble of McLaren and utilise it and be ready for when it clicks.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd it just hasn\u2019t quite for him at the present time.\u201d<\/p>\n
The former F1 driver explained that swings in performance are normal in F1, with certain tracks suiting some drivers more than others.<\/p>\n
Piastri\u2019s recent struggles, he added, reflect the natural ebb and flow of a championship rather than a loss of ability, with confidence in the car, timing, and a calm mindset under pressure proving critical.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou\u2019re never going to rule out Oscar,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut it just needs all the little bits of the puzzle that worked for Max when he had that little run.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe puzzle where there was a piece missing for Lando\u2026after the first couple of races and then mid-season. It wasn\u2019t quite working for him. And Oscar was in a happy place, and now Oscar\u2019s not in a happy place.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo there\u2019s all these little ingredients that seem to be coming into play of how they\u2019re feeling with the car when they\u2019re in the cockpit.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen you\u2019re not quite feeling it, it doesn\u2019t happen. And it doesn\u2019t even happen for someone like Max either. Like it didn\u2019t in Mexico.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut then when that confidence is there in the car, they can actually, with the pressure that\u2019s there, deal with it at the same time.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo it fascinates me how it has sort of swung around as much as it has. And I think it\u2019s not stopped swinging yet.\u201d<\/p>\n
He emphasised that overthinking or trying to change his approach could be counterproductive for Piastri.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou just do your race and your weekend and then hopefully at the end of it, you\u2019ll be in a much stronger position and you\u2019ll probably have a nice pleasant surprise and smile on your face when you have a better race weekend,\u201d Herbert added.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo I don\u2019t think there\u2019s anything particular that you do try and change as a driver.\u201d<\/p>\n
Herbert also added how Piastri\u2019s calm personality makes him difficult to read for rivals and teammates alike, which can be a strategic advantage.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s always a very useful tool when you\u2019re battling for races and going for a championship,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf we can\u2019t read him, then his teammates aren\u2019t going to be able to read him either.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd that\u2019s a powerful thing to have.\u201d<\/p>\n
Johnny Herbert was made available by Betting Lounge<\/a> for this interview.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Johnny Herbert believes Oscar Piastri shouldn’t change his approach in the final races of the 2025 season. Image:…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":247486,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[573],"tags":[64,63,817,813,816,46379,2333,22708,7499,85],"class_list":{"0":"post-247485","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-formula-1","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-f1","11":"tag-formula-1","12":"tag-formula1","13":"tag-johnny-herbert","14":"tag-oscar-piastri","15":"tag-slot1_f1","16":"tag-slot4","17":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/247485","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=247485"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/247485\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/247486"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=247485"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=247485"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=247485"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![\"Herbert](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/XPB_1382517_HiRes.jpg\")