Former F1 driver turned pundit Johnny Herbert hasn’t had an easy few weeks. After spending much of the latter half of 2024 accused of bias against drivers like Max Verstappen, he was sacked from his role as rotating FIA steward.

Now, as the 2025 F1 season looks set to get underway, Herbert has spoken out on his true feelings toward the Dutch driver.

Johnny Herbert terms Verstappen ‘best driver on the grid’

Former Formula 1 driver turned motorsport analyst Johnny Herbert has had a handful of unpleasant run-ins with the Verstappen family of late, but that hasn’t stopped him from leveling praise on the Dutch champion.

In the latter part of the 2024 F1 season, Max and Jos Verstappen both expressed concerns about potential bias from the FIA stewards. A pool of former racers are invited to serve as rotating, voluntary stewards during Formula 1 events, but the Verstappens were concerned that Herbert’s opinions on Verstappen were coloring his interpretation of the rulebook.

They argued that, because Herbert was so vocally against certain moves of Verstappen’s, he couldn’t be guaranteed to make an unbiased call in the stewarding room.

Herbert found out early this year that he wouldn’t be invited back to the steward role; despite that, he has been complimentary of Verstappen’s quality as a driver.

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Speaking to CasinoApps.com after Bahrain pre-season testing, Herbert concluded, “Max has done a good number of laps and he will always be in the running because for me he is the best driver on the grid at the moment. It is up to everyone else to change that.”

Betting on the reigning champion is a fairly safe move to make, but Herbert has argued that the real battle in 2025 will once again involve two specific teams in the Constructors’ Championship.

“In the constructors, however, it is between McLaren and Ferrari,” he noted.

“I would still go for McLaren at the moment because I know how consistent that car has been on every circuit we have seen them on since the second half of the season. The Ferraris still have to prove that.”

Herbert acknowledged that drawing any significant conclusions from testing would be a bit challenging considering the cooler weather paired with the wind and rain at the Sakhir International Circuit, but he still has a few predictions on how the title fight will shape up.

I’m going for Lando,” Herbert said. “He’s got the knife between his teeth. He’s learned a lot from his fight against Max. I think he’s learned what he has to do to beat him.

“But he has to be very, very careful with his teammate, because I think Oscar is going to be in the mix too.”

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