Congratulations to George Russell for his first grand prix win, in Brazil. He did a solid job and exactly what he needed to do. Very impressive. He’s always had it in him and now he’s proven it to the world. He wasn’t fazed at all by going up against Lewis Hamilton.

He is a steely character, and very smart. A good sense of humour, too. I’ve seen enough of George to believe he’s the real deal. He had that ‘Mr Saturday’ qualifying reputation at Williams and now on Sundays he is very strong, although Lewis Hamilton has come back at him over the season. It’s been close between them. But George has proven that when he has the opportunity he is more than capable of dealing with the pressure. Give him a decent car at the start of the season, and there’s a championship in him.

For me, the biggest thing with this race win is it represents a changing of the guard. The young generation is starting to take over. The last of the greats left from the previous generation are Fernando Alonso and Lewis. Fernando, we’ll see what happens at Aston Martin. Lewis? For every driver there comes a time when the edge goes. I hate saying it, but look at the error in Singapore. Did we see such things from him in the past? They are tiny, but they make a difference. Speed? Still there. Racecraft? Still there. But the boys are coming on strong. Max, George, Lando, Charles, Carlos… Within Mercedes, there might possibly be a different vibe, and for Lewis it’s not as easy as it was.

“Max can’t intimidate Lewis. I like this Prost and Senna scenario”

Beyond George’s win in Brazil, Verstappen did what Verstappen does. Ignoring the team order to help Sergio Pérez was bizarre, selfish – normal! What you’d probably expect. Was it detrimental to him? I’d say he’s in a win-win situation. He knows anybody would want him, if he ever left Red Bull. For Sergio, on the other hand, it’s a lose-lose. He must be hacked off and might not want to help Max again, but if the team asks and you go against them you’ll be out. The one I always remember is Mika Salo, who gave up victory at the 1999 German Grand Prix to help Eddie Irvine’s title cause. Mika regrets that now. He had to do it, but he never got the opportunity to win a grand prix again. He says now, “I should have ignored them.” Then again, Ferrari looked after him beyond his time in F1…

Will it affect Max within the team? No. Because they need him. It is undermining for Christian Horner, but he doesn’t own the team. He’s a middle man. That would be a typical Verstappen mentality, perhaps driven by Jos, that Christian doesn’t matter. Helmut Marko has more power within the team, so there probably is a bit of disrespect in there. In the wake of the loss of Dietrich Mateschitz, there might well be a power struggle going on within Red Bull, which Max will be a part of.

My take on the Interlagos collision with Hamilton goes back to the rules for racing we have now, about what counts for being fully alongside. There is the view that Max was down the inside and Lewis should have given him room, as my colleague Martin Brundle said on the Sky F1 commentary. My problem is one always thinks the other was not enough up the inside and the other is certain he was. From a racing driver’s perspective, it was a racing incident because they should have given each other more room.

I class Verstappen’s move as a lunge. It’s steep down those esses and the right-hander is tricky because you know you can run wide for the left before the long run down to Turn 4. It’s quite a risk to go for the inside there and you normally lose out, because usually you have to back out and then you get drafted by the car behind on the way to Turn 4. Was it really worth it? If Max had backed out he could have won that race. Could Lewis have given him more room? Possibly. Again, it comes back to the blame culture. The penalty was given because someone had to be to blame. But was that really the case? The penalty was harsh. Let them race, let them sort it out between themselves.

These two push each other’s buttons. Max is an intimidator, which I like, as Michael Schumacher was, as Alonso is. Max has said this year it’s more respectful when he’s racing Leclerc, but is that because it’s easier? He can’t intimidate Lewis. That’s why I like this Prost and Senna scenario, and actually I think Max and Lewis both enjoy it, despite what they say. Fundamentally, they prefer to have that challenge with a rival. I would too.

Johnny Herbert was a Formula 1 driver from 1989-2000 and a Le Mans winner in 1991. He is a regular contributor to Sky Sports F1 

Follow Johnny on Twitter @johnnyherbertf1