Herbert says F1 rookies must perform 'immediately' to survive

F1

Oscar Piastri, Nyck de Vries and Logan Sargeant face a baptism of fire on their F1 debuts, according to Johnny Herbert, who says in our latest podcast that teams are now expecting immediate results

Oscar Piastri portrait during 2022 Abu Dhabi F1 test

McLaren's Oscar Piastri is at the centre of the new series' best storyline

Mark Thompson/Getty Images

Three rookies join the Formula 1 grid in 2023 but if the new intake think that they’ll get a honeymoon period for the first few grands prix, then they are in for a sharp shock, says Johnny Herbert

Speaking in Motor Sport’s 2023 F1 season preview podcast, the three-time GP-winner and 1991 Le Mans champion says the latest crop of Oscar Piastri, Nyck de Vries and Logan Sargeant need to deliver results straight away if they are to establish long-term careers in racing’s top tier where scrutiny is more intense than ever.

“It’s got to happen immediately,” he says. “Because if it doesn’t, you start getting all the criticism and once that criticism starts, it affects what’s happening in the cockpit – and you’ve [still] got to jump in there and just do it.

“Nyck is always someone who’s come through in a very, very quick way, it’s the same situation with Piastri as well, they’ve got nice elements of the skill set you need to be able to drive a Formula 1 car.

“The problem comes – we’ve seen this in various situations – where someone like Pierre [Gasly] when he jumped into the Red Bull, the [new] pressures on your shoulders, take away [the benefits of] that raw ability you have, because you’re having to deal with things that you never expected to happen.

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“And then you’ve got a team-mate that every time you think ‘That was a good lap,’ you look up at the screen, and you go: ‘I’m still 1.5sec off, 1sec, 0.5sec’ whatever it may be – that is going to be the difficult thing for them.

“Some people can deal with it, some can’t – but they’re in the right teams.”

Motor Sport’s grand prix editor Mark Hughes highlighted the momentum that can often make or break a young rookie in F1.

“There’s a sort of spiral in energy with young drivers,” he says. “If it’s going upwards, you can ride the wave and create good performances, because if you’re on that wave, it creates more. But it can spiral downwards as well – and that’s the tricky bit.

“If you look at Oscar, he’s riding that wave – but he’s going to be measured against Lando [Norris] who’s operating at that absolute elite level.

“With Nyck, the big thing is grabbing opportunities when they’re thrown in front of you, and he did a brilliant job of standing in for Alex [Albon] at Monza and that created this opportunity.

“Yuki Tsunoda’s reputation is not that high, but I think last year he was beginning to operate at a pretty good, consistent level. Gasly didn’t annihilate him last year, it was quite close on performance between the two. It’s not necessarily [going to be] easy.”

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Herbert points to a recent example of a rookie who has found themselves under intense pressure – ultimately costing them their seat.

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Mick Schumacher, when he came in, was given a bit of a chance, and it didn’t quite work out for him. There was all the pressures of dad Michael, all the pressures of the Schumacher name.

“Was he good enough? He was good enough, but he wasn’t good enough all the time.

“Doing one good race is sort of pretty easy. Doing two good races is pretty much not a problem. It’s doing it every single time you go out – and that’s the expectations the teams have on you.”