Max Verstappen ‘causing trouble’ as Herbert scans McLaren ‘implosion’ threat
Max Verstappen has interrupted McLaren's dominance at times in 2025, but has ground to make up in the title battle.
Johnny Herbert predicted Max Verstappen will still be in the fight at the front of the field for the rest of the season, which could have an impact on the title fight.
While Verstappen has won two races so far in 2025, he appears unlikely to retain his World Championship crown at this stage, sitting 97 points behind Oscar Piastri with 10 races remaining.
Herbert: Max Verstappen will ‘have an influence’ on 2025 title fight
Red Bull’s relative pace compared to McLaren has dropped off in recent races, with Verstappen having gone four consecutive races without a podium.
With the McLaren duo having opened up the gap at the front of the field in that time, Herbert does not believe the reigning World Champion will be a factor in this year’s title battle.
What he could do, however, is perform well enough to take points away from the two main title contenders.
While Herbert believes an “implosion” at McLaren is unlikely, Verstappen could be the driver to be the biggest influence on proceedings away from the McLaren duo.
Oscar Piastri v Lando Norris: F1 2025 stats
👉 F1 2025: Head-to-head qualifying statistics between team-mates
👉 F1 2025: Head-to-head race statistics between team-mates
When asked if Verstappen can be ruled out of the title fight this season, Herbert told Formula1.com: “For the championship, yes.
“He’ll be in the mix, he’ll be causing trouble for the others, and he’ll have an influence – because he’ll be taking points away potentially from the others.
“That’s what he will enjoy as well: ‘I’m still here, I’m still here’. It’s very unlikely… there could be an implosion at McLaren, but I don’t think so.
“Max is just going to be in the mix and he’s going to be causing them to think in a slightly different way, because they’re fighting for a championship while fighting Max.”
With the title fight set to be between the two McLaren drivers for the rest of the season, three-time grand prix winner Herbert praised how both drivers have gone about their season.
When it comes to a deciding factor between Norris and Piastri, however, the Briton believes the mental side of the sport will come to the fore.
“It’s going to be down to the mentality of both of them,” Herbert said.
“But they’re both youngish and they’re only going to get better as time goes by, like Max has done, like Lewis did, Ayrton Senna, Alain Prost, Michael Schumacher… they have that wonderful ability to find a way of moving up every time the performance of the car gets better.
“With all the little ups and downs they’ve had, they’re still very, very close overall. It’ll only be one over the other come the end of the year.”
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