Former Benetton ace Johnny Herbert feels Max Verstappen has a “seventh sense” that allows him to feel the car beneath him, giving him an idea of what changes are needed during a race weekend. Having a feel for what the car is doing on track is an essential skill for a racing driver, as it allows them to detect which areas of the car are struggling
The feedback is passed to the engineers, who adjust the setup, while the driver can make adjustments via the bottom of the steering wheel to maximise performance over a lap. Once those changes have been made, the driver can start to feel confident in their machinery, allowing them to focus on their own individual performance throughout a race.
Having that confidence has proven key for Verstappen in the past, particularly in the second half of 2025. Following a change in direction at Red Bull after a disastrous first half of the season, the Dutchman found his rhythm with the temperamental RB21, allowing him to win six of the last nine races.
The results put Verstappen within two points of claiming his fifth world title, finishing ahead of Oscar Piastri, who suffered a loss of confidence on low-grip circuits and eventually finished third in the standings. Lewis Hamilton was another who struggled in 2025, with his confidence diminishing as he dealt with Ferrari’s unpredictable SF-25, which left him trailing teammate Charles Leclerc in qualifying and the race.
Aiding Verstappen is the time he spends in his simulator at home in Monaco, where he practice and tests new setups for circuits. With the 2026 cars requiring a new driving style that requires managing the battery, Verstappen, whose criticism of the new regulations is well known, should adapt easily, provided the car is up to par.
We know very much how it affects the human side of it when we saw what happened last year with Lewis Hamilton, where he was totally and utterly unable to feel what was going on in the car,” said Herbert to Snabbare. “And that’s where sometimes a driver has to, one, adapt, but secondly, there has to be that feeling, that connection with that steering wheel, and suspension to the tyre and that connection you have with the road.
“If you haven’t got that, then your confidence is not going to be high, and then you’re not going to be able to push that. So that’s got to be a very important part to it. Some adapt better than others. I think the drivers who game adapt better. The younger cohort are so used to it.
“Max Verstappen plays a lot of those games, and he has that ‘seventh sense.’ But he still has to have that ability to feel what the car underneath him is doing. It doesn’t matter how good the car is; it could be the quickest car in the world.
“But if the driver can’t feel it, can’t drive, it doesn’t really matter. Then you have to adapt that car to try and make the driver feel happy in that cockpit. He, after all, is the last part of the jigsa
While the big four of Red Bull, McLaren, Ferrari and Mercedes are likely to lock out the front of the grid, the battle for the final two points-paying positions should also be intensely fought. Aston Martin had been tipped to make the step up to the front of the grid, following the signing of Adrian Newey and works Honda engines.
But following a poor pre-season mired by unreliability with the Honda power unit, Aston Martin is unlikely to trouble the front of the grid until 2027, leaving others to step up to the crease. Among those looking to take midfield honours are Haas and Alpine, who finished last in 2025. Alpine have enjoyed a promising pre-season, with Pierre Gasly taking the best-of-the-rest honours for the Anglo-French team by setting the eighth-fastest time overall at the final test in Bahrain.
The 2026 season is a make-or-break year for Alpine, having sacrificed most of 2025 to develop the A526 and ditching a supply of works Renault power units to become a Mercedes customer. Alpine’s future in the sport also remains under scrutiny after the Renault Group cut its sports car and rally-raid programmes over the winter, leaving some to wonder if the F1 team is next to go.
There is also significant interest in Otro Capital’s 24% stake in Alpine, with several parties looking to buy out the high-profile group of investors, which includes actor Ryan Reynolds. Among the parties interested in the stake is a consortium of investors led by former Red Bull team principal and CEO Christian Horner.
Horner, who’s been out of work since his shock exit from Red Bull in July of 2025, has expressed his desire to return to the sport, but only with a project he believes can win. On paper, Alpine isn’t on the list, having won its last championship in 2006, when it was still known as Renault and had Fernando Alonso as the lead driver. With increasing uncertainty over whether Renault will sell the team outright, on top of the mediocre on-track results, may sway Horner against returning to the sport with Team Enstone.
Even if Horner decides to take a chance on Alpine, Herbert warns that success won’t come overnight.
“Christian Horner still has that desire to be around the Formula One paddock,” said Herbert. “I don’t know what he wants to achieve with that. I don’t think by buying into Alpine he’s necessarily going to be in the right place.
“It’s not going to be instant success. It’s going to take time, a lot of time and a lot of effort to be able to create what you need, for a team to be able to win races or world championships. What I mean by that is it’s getting the right people on board.
“That is always going to be the biggest difficulty that you have. But that seems to be what Christian is working on, and we’ll just have to wait and see if that’s something that can come together.
“But it’s not going to be an instant success like he had at Red Bull. When that first kicked off and how quickly, realistically, they were in a fight for a championship. Alpine has had that struggle over the last five years or so. It hasn’t really got better. Even when Flavio went in, a lot of people were thinking, well, that’s going to be a big change.
“Flavio was talking about a big change, but that big change and that competitiveness never happened and still hasn’t happened yet. We’ll have to wait and see what happens, but I don’t foresee there being a big shift in a positive way, unfortunately, at the moment