Johnny Herbert believes Max Verstappen has it in him to spring a surprise in the title chase, and that McLaren is wary of his proximity.

Verstappen has reduced his deficit in the championship chase down to 36 points with four race weekends remaining, having been over 100 points down on then-championship leader Oscar Piastri after the Dutch Grand Prix in late summer.

Johnny Herbert: Max Verstappen always shows sheer brilliance

With Verstappen capitalising on an improved Red Bull RB21 to go on a scintillating run of results to take several victories and podium finishes, this coincided with a slump in form for championship leader Oscar Piastri.

This has led to a convergence of the three drivers at the top of the table, with Piastri’s McLaren teammate Lando Norris taking over from Piastri at the top by dint of a dominant victory at the Mexico City Grand Prix last time out.

The task facing Verstappen to topple both McLaren drivers remains formidable, with the four-time F1 World Champion required to take an average of almost 10 points per race weekend out of both drivers to have any chance of making it a surprise fifth title.

But, if anyone can do it, it’s Verstappen, believes three-time Grand Prix winner Johnny Herbert.

Speaking to AdventureGamers, the British pundit said, “Verstappen has shown brilliance, but he has needed an improved Red Bull to get back into the race for the Championship.

“There is a sheer brilliance that Max always shows. He’s always able to pull out those unbelievable qualifying laps and then have an absolutely storming race and dominate it.

“But you still need the car underneath you to be able to do that.

“Is he always able to get that little something extra against his competitors? Then arguably, yes. That’s always been the case with the greats of the sport. They’ve always been able to do something that people think is unbelievable.

“That’s where everybody goes, ‘Well, it’s Max who’s pulling more out of the car’.

“There’s a big element to that. If he were in a McLaren, would he be fighting for the championship? Absolutely.”

With Verstappen slashing his championship deficit down to a third of what the gap was at its peak, the Dutch driver is up against two McLaren drivers who are fighting on a level playing field, with the Woking-based squad showing no interest in intervening to favour one or the other in the title chase.

The gap is still such that Verstappen remains an outsider for the title, especially given the clear superiority of the Norris/McLaren package in Mexico, but Herbert believes that neither McLaren man will have ruled out the possibility of the Red Bull driver stealing their thunder as they each seek a maiden title against each other.

“No, you can’t rule Max out, and I think you’d be a fool to rule him out,” he said.

“I’m sure Lando, Oscar, and McLaren haven’t ruled him out because you always know that there is a chance that he will be the guy who will beat you. Look what he did after the summer break: he went on that incredible run, and the points difference has come down considerably.

“People were thinking, ‘Well, he was out of it and had no chance.

“You can never rule him out. You can never rule out Red Bull. They always seem to be able to bounce back when you least expect it. With Max, there is always that knowledge he is able just to dig that little bit deeper and spring a surprise.”

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Verstappen was unfortunate to miss out on potentially securing another three points in Mexico when his strategy was foiled by a very late Virtual Safety Car. Having run a Medium-Soft strategy, the opposite of what most of the frontrunners did, Verstappen had hunted down second-placed Charles Leclerc and was preparing his attack for the position.

Just as Verstappen got within DRS range and upon approach to the area required to set up a potential pass down the main straight, the yellow flags came out as Carlos Sainz binned his Williams, before the VSC was employed to cover the recovery of his car.

The risk-taking on the strategy side, overseen by Hannah Schmitz, is proof that he and Red Bull are willing to go against the grain, which could prove dangerous for McLaren in the final races of the season.

“When you looked at the race at the beginning, when he started on the mediums, it was a risky strategy,” he said.

“It didn’t look as if it was going to work out. But he kept on pushing, he kept on working at it, his times actually started to get more competitive, and then he put himself in a position where he could fight for that podium.

“At one point, it looked as if that was one of the worst strategy calls that Red Bull has made.

“He turned it around, and that is where he’s got a very strong mental strength of knowing that there is probably an end game and there is a good chance in his mind it is going to come their way.

“He could have finished second but for that bizarre VSC.”

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