Ex-F1 driver Johnny Herbert believes Lando Norris and George Russell are the two young drivers who could beat Max Verstappen in equal machinery.
After narrowly beating Lewis Hamilton to claim his first title in 2021, Verstappen ruthlessly dominated last year to retain the Drivers’ Championship comfortably.
With Red Bull’s RB19 being the class of the field in the early stages Verstappen, winner of two of the opening three races, is well poised to make it three titles on the bounce this season.
But Herbert believes Norris and Russell, who both debuted in F1 at the start of 2019, are the two talents who could potentially usurp Verstappen in the same car.
“George has been able to challenge him [Lewis Hamilton] and put him under a lot of pressure,” Herbert told the Evening Standard.
“George is going to be tough for Max Verstappen when he gets the right car. I think Lando Norris is the same given the right car.”
There could have been the possibility of Norris going up against Verstappen for the Championship this year if he had accepted an approach from Red Bull’s Motorsport Advisor Helmut Marko midway through 2018.
The esteemed Austrian talent scout wanted to place the Brit at Toro Rosso, Red Bull’s sister outfit, for the remainder of that year with the potential to advance to the main team down the line.
However, McLaren rejected its rival’s advances and Norris completed his season in the second tier instead, eventually finishing runner-up to Russell.
McLaren CEO Zak Brown is confident the Red Bull stable would have successfully attracted Norris away without the offer of a race seat for 2019 from his parent side.
The McLaren protege has also revealed that he held talks with Red Bull again before penning a long-term extension with the Woking-based entity ahead of the 2022 campaign.
While Norris has been frustrated with McLaren’s stagnation since the regulations were overhauled last year, the one-time F1 pole-sitter is confident in the British team’s long-term prospects.
After years spent being hampered by using Toyota’s facility in Cologne, McLaren’s new state-of-the-art wind tunnel at its Woking base is set to come online at some point this year, following a technical restructuring that has occurred in the wake of its poor start to 2023.
Norris is hopeful that the changes made will inspire the papaya squad to close down the large deficit to the established front-running teams and return McLaren to a position of competing for regular race wins and Championships.
Russell, meanwhile, has been affiliated with Mercedes since 2017 and eventually earned a promotion to the works’ F1 outfit last season after three years spent with a flailing Williams side.
Despite joining a manufacturer that had been on a record run of eight Constructors’ titles, Mercedes’ surprise plight from the top of the order in the sport’s newest era has meant the opportunity to challenge his seven-time World Champion team-mate for frequent wins hasn’t presented itself.
Nevertheless, Russell was able to take advantage of the Silver Arrows’ troubled W13 car enjoying one of its better days at the penultimate round in Brazil last year to score his first victory, having already claimed his maiden pole position earlier in the year at Hungary.
Following Mercedes’ decision to stick with its revolutionary zero sidepod concept – one that team boss Toto Wolff has since rued – the German marque has once again been unable to provide competition for a dominant Red Bull team early this season.
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