21 Oct 2024
Genting Casino are giving fans a chance to win a VIP trip of a lifetime to attend the season-ending Abu Dhabi GP! Before the giveaway, former F1 star Johnny Herbert gave a fan a go-karting coaching session and discussed all things Formula One.
Herbert said Red Bull will be wise to switch Sergio Perez out of the seat for Yuki Tsunoda, who has earned the chance to join Max Verstappen at the top team.
He added that maintaining a positive atmosphere at Ferrari will be one of the key ingredients to Lewis Hamilton being successful for his new team next season.
Following a dramatic race in Austin, Herbert says that Lando Norris may have been too nice on track when losing out to Max Verstappen and adds that Red Bull should make a dramatic call to switch their second driver before the end of the season.
ENTER THE DRAW
Was Norris too nice to Verstappen in the first corner?
Too nice is probably one way of using it. I think it's probably being not quite aware enough of what was needed to stop Max Verstappen, I think for me it was just to shut the door. Then let him try and work a way round you, but why leave that gap open?
So it's just a little bit of a racing brain to be able to position the car exactly in the right place or block someone and force them onto another side. The placement was not quite executed in the way that you need to when you're racing against the likes of Max. It's something you will learn. Lando has enough and with tiny little sort of adjustments to his racing, he will become a much bigger threat.
Max very well is a threat and there is a little bit, and this is something that is very, very powerful and it's something that Max has done ever since he came into Formula One and maybe we haven't quite seen that from Lando, it's intimidation. The intimidation that you put on someone because when you go into Turn 1, Lando knew it was Max and when you know it, Max, the intimidation is, I've got to be in the right place at the right point. It's almost like there's a, it's not a panic but it's like a mini panic.
When it's the other way around, is he thinking like that? No. He's all got it very much in control but we're talking of really small elements that will actually make Lando more complete and more complete is something that does, as I said, that does make some people become more complete, just that little bit later than the other driver.
Should McLaren have told Norris to let Verstappen back through to avoid his penalty?
Hindsight's always very good because I think in their head they thought we'd probably have enough to get sprint away and get that five second penalty back. He nearly did, he only got four of it back. But as far as could he have done it, well he ended up he didn't.
Now if he had given the place back and then had another couple of laps to make the overtake stick properly then we would all be in a very difficult, a different position. But I think they took it that he would be able to get the five seconds and they said well then the decision was wrong and it ruined race and everything else and I don't agree with Andreas Stella because I think that's not correct. He says the stewards and the penalties shouldn't have got involved with a race in that was brilliant and everything else and it was.
The penalties have come in and everyone's got to remember as well, the drivers have been involved with all these guidelines. It's not just the FIA or Formula One or anything, the drivers have been involved with the discussions about what they want those guidelines to say and how they want those guidelines from the stewards point of view.
Will Ferrari be expecting Hamilton to start turning his form around now?
I'm sure once he comes on board and they start off the season there is going to be an expectation that he's going to do what they expect him to do and everybody else expects him to do when he gets onto the racetrack itself. We saw Lewis spin off, which we don't see very often, as the car has been so up and down, so inconsistent and both Lewis and George have suffered.
I think he will still have the ability to take Ferrari with Charles Leclerc and Fred Vasseur to another level. It's a brilliant level they're at at the moment, it's a good indication of what's potentially going to come for next year but of course more so for 2026 when there's a bigger change. But I don't think anybody has to worry because I don't see Lewis has lost what it takes to win races because we only have to go back to what happened at Silverstone.
I don't think Ferrari should be concerned because I think it'll be a very different situation once he's in the car with them.
What do you expect from Lewis Hamilton at Ferrari next season?
They have so much positive ingredients at Ferrari that can feed both their drivers, Charles as well.
I think Fred Vasseur is a very important cog in the potential that Ferrari is able to give the drivers. It's sort of nearly there, but not quite. Charles has actually been going very well of recent races.
And I think it's something that will hopefully benefit having someone of Lewis's experience. Fred and Lewis have worked before in the lower categories. So they have a very, very good relationship.
And relationships are very, very important as well. You've got to have everybody around you. And I think that's what Fred can do for Lewis and for Charles, is give them all the right vibes, the right feelings, the positivity that you need to be successful.
And Ferrari, it's been a long time. Kimi Räikkönen won the championship in a Ferrari back in 2007. That was the last time they won the drivers.
So it's time for it to come together. There's going to be a lot of work that they all need to do to be able to just move it forward. That little bit more for 2025, but more importantly, when we get to the rule changes in 2026.
Should Red Bull replace Sergio Perez before the end of the season?
Red Bull are potentially going to lose second place in the Constructors' because they've only got one man doing the job again. Sergio Perez got points this weekend, but he’s only getting little bits, nothing compared to what is happening with Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz, who are neck and neck as far as pace goes and got a massive haul of points when one-two.
Sergio is delivering but not quite delivering enough, so do they replace him now? I think yes, if they’re trying to keep that second place in the constructors. Whether they have the cojones to do it before Sergio Perez’s home race in Mexico is the question - I'd say yes, because of the way the Constructors is playing out at the moment.
Maybe they will keep Perez in Mexico and then make the call for Brazil. They need to do it sooner rather than later if they are going to do it. For me, it should have happened earlier.
For me, it’s Yuki Tsunoda who should come in. I think Yuki has done a brilliant job this year. He's very consistent as well. His qualifying has been very, very strong. Always been very good at qualifying. His race was always probably his weak link. But I think that's improved as well, his race pace has really got better as well. I'd like to see someone like Yuki get that chance because I think he's earned it. Being up against Max is a very tough job, but I think from his consistency I see, maybe he won't be as quick as Max, but I think he'll be not too far behind. So I'd like Yuki to be given a chance, to be honest.
Other teams have made a switch this season and it is working. Liam Lawson seems to have that natural ability to just jump in. And the other one who's very impressive as well and just seems to actually be getting stronger is Franco Colapinto.
Which team will be strong in Mexico?
You can't always rule out Mercedes in Mexico. Their threats have been minimal over the last couple of years, but they have shown they can produce a good car for this track and this season they have had some quick cars.
The McLaren still have an advantage due to the strength of how well they look after the tyres of the car, they're able to keep keep them fresher for longer and later.
You can't rule out Max, but I don't think Red Bull have enough to go to Mexico and get a win.
I'm probably going to go I'm going to go for this is a massive opportunity for Lando and I think him and McLaren will be able to come out on top. It's going to be damn tough and they're going to have to get Lando's going to get it.
2025 best driver pairing?
At the present time, I think McLaren have the best driver pairing. I think it's so exciting what Lando is doing at the moment. I'm glad finally, finally, it should have happened a little bit earlier in the season, Hungary being that way, they've actually backed now Lando.
But then Oscar is doing a fantastic job for the team at the same time. And what's important in my experience of Mikka Häkkinen and myself when we were at Lotus, for example, it's pushing each other and they're pushing each other. And I think they're both realising they have to keep improving.
But it's also improving within the team structure at the same time to be able to get all the right ingredients selfishly for yourself. You want to be number one. Of course you do within a team.
But that's a great battle that's going to be something that Zac Brown is going to have to control as well. And so far, they have been controlling it very, very well. So I think that pairing is very good for the future.
How hard it was to compete with Schumacher?
You're sitting in the car. You've done your first run in qualifying. You've gone, ‘that wasn't bad’.
Then the TV screen sort of gets placed in front of you. You look at it and you go, ‘Max at the top’’. And then you go, ‘I'm seventh or sixth’ or whatever it may be. ‘I'm half a second behind.’ Mentally, that's very hard.
Not on that one race, but every single race, every single session. The likes of Max, Lewis, Senna, Prost, Michael, Mika, and so on, they have this ability to do it every single time they get in the car.
And that's where it's demoralising. That's where it's very, very tough. But, hey, that's the tough side of motorsport. You've got to be tough.
You've got to be someone who probably doesn't care and have a Kimi Raikkonen type of attitude in some way. He just does the job that he needs to do. But then you get the likes of Max who just has this inner belief in himself.
It's the mental side that they just have that little edge. They have this ability that they're up here. Then everybody else, you know, they're exceptional, Lewis and Max, for example.
But it's harnessing all that, let's say, negative energy and then turning it into the positive energy at the same time.
And that's what the likes of Lewis and Max, Senna and Michael and et cetera, they are able to do that. They lead. They drive the team.
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