Johnny Herbert: McLaren did the right thing

      Johnny Herbert, a former Formula 1 racing driver, believes that Zach Brown needs to prepare for a conversation with Mark Webber, Oscar Piastri's manager.

      In Japan, the Australian McLaren driver took 3rd place, but at the final stage of the Grand Prix, during a radio exchange with the team, he hinted that he would have enough pace to try to attack Max Verstappen if his second-place team-mate missed him.

      But McLaren did not use team tactics, ignoring Piastri's proposal, so Oscar had to maintain his position, and he finished less than one second behind Lando Norris.

      "Of course, Mark Webber will talk to Zach Brown about team tactics, he should do that," Herbert said. "The other side of this issue is that we need to try to maintain harmony in the team. I understand why Webber would insist on such a conversation, but I also know that McLaren is monitoring the situation with its drivers very closely during the championship.

      Is it possible to say that last year they missed out on winning the individual competition? Yes, but they were in an unfavorable situation due to the fact that Max Verstappen had been leading with a big advantage since the beginning of the season, and McLaren was always trying to catch up with him.

      At a certain stage of the season, at the right moment, you have to make the right choice to provide support to one of the drivers so that he can effectively earn points in pursuit of the title.

      Will Lando's entourage try to convince the team to make the right decisions? Yes. Will Oscar's entourage do the same thing, but with regard to their rider? Definitely.

      At the same time, I don't think the team is overly protective of Norris – yes, I think it supports him, but it doesn't protect him. But this is an important point, and it has to do with what happened last year. I'm referring to what happened in Hungary when Norris had to give up the position to his teammate.

      In theory, if Lando had won then, it could have helped him reach the next level – sometimes a rider needs the support of the team. And Max definitely has that kind of support. It seems that McLaren is going to do exactly that this time. That's exactly what we saw in Suzuka: they didn't exchange positions. I think they did the right thing."