Johnny Herbert: Max Verstappen may not win the F1 title, but he could still play a vital role between Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri

While the 2025 Formula 1 title increasingly looks to be a battle between Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris, former F1 steward Johnny Herbert has stressed Max Verstappen could still have a role to play in deciding the championship. The 61-year-old stressed how he expects the Dutch driver to influence the drivers’ championship battle with 10 races left on the calendar.

Herbert, who recently spoke with F1.com despite ruling the Red Bull Racing driver out of the championship fight, detailed that he expects the four-time champion to 'cause trouble' for the others.

“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,” he said.

“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. It’s going to be down to the mentality of both of them,” Herbert added.

The F1 championship is closely knitted between Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris, with nine points separating them. For Max Verstappen, he is currently 97 points adrift of top spot and at the Belgian Grand Prix weekend ruled himself out of the championship fight.

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Max Verstappen rules himself out of F1 championship fight

Earlier during the Belgian Grand Prix weekend, Max Verstappen ruled himself out of the drivers’ championship fight. The 27-year-old, who spoke to the media following the conclusion of the race weekend, responded to claims by Red Bull Racing chief Helmut Marko, who stressed the Dutch driver was still in the title fight.

Following the Sprint win by the four-time world champion, the 82-year-old took to the media via ORF to say:

"There are still 12 races to go, and we will continue to fight for the drivers’ championship as long as it's mathematically possible. Our goal remains the same: we want to win the world championship. We’ve already gained one point."

However, Max Verstappen was quick to downplay the talks that he was in the championship battle. The Dutch driver stressed Marko was not in the car and would not understand the actual issue with the RB21 challenger.

"But Helmut isn't in the car!" he said. "I understand that you have to be positive, but I'm always very realistic about how I feel in the car. When I watch certain onboards from other cars, I know enough.”

If there was any optimism about Max Verstappen being in the title fight following his outing at the Belgian Grand Prix, the turn of event at the next race in Hungary offered little hope of him mounting a challenge for the championship, as Verstappen and the Red Bull team largely struggled through the race weekend and could only muster a ninth place finish on race Sunday.