F1 | Herbert has no doubts: "Verstappen is the dictator of the driver market."

Without Max Verstappen, the 2025 Formula 1 season would have ended as a papaya-tinged domination. Instead, the Dutchman kept the championship battle alive until the final race in Abu Dhabi, where he lost the head-to-head match against newly crowned world champion Lando Norris by just two points.

In a rollercoaster season for Verstappen, who in the medium and long term did not have the best equipment available unlike his rivals McLaren, he was without a shadow of a doubt the moral winner of a championship that without his presence and his talent would not have generated the fire of interest shown until the final stages.

Discussing the talent of Verstappen, who has decided to remain at Red Bull in 2026, coinciding with the introduction of new technical regulations that will see the Milton Keynes team take to the track with its own engine in collaboration with Ford, Johnny Herbert believes that the Dutchman's future moves will trigger a domino effect regarding the next driver market.

For Herbert, in fact, Verstappen's name is the main piece that will animate him.

“Max single-handedly kept the season alive,” Herbert said in a recent interview with Newbettingsites.uk. “It’s Max, the great Max we all know. It was the strength of his driving that carried Red Bull to victory in those races, when at the start of the year he said Red Bull would never win another race! Classic Max. It was Max who shook that team up and made them understand what they had to do.”

Herbert then went on to talk about Verstappen, saying: “Every single driver on that grid should be worrying about their 2027 seat. Because Max Verstappen will be aiming for one of those top spots unless Red Bull does an absolutely extraordinary job next season. That’s the power Max has. He has this enormous ability to make people look in their mirrors when he’s moving up the pack.”

The English commentator, concluding his remarks when asked whether Verstappen could win seven or eight career titles, added: "He intimidates you, and intimidation is something he will continue to use when he gets to the point where he can choose where to go. This will be something the drivers will fear once again. It's far from over with the next World Championship that's coming up. For me, it's guaranteed that there will be another one, two, or maybe even three or four world championships. He's the one who can choose, and he's the dictator of the driver market."