Johnny Herbert has accused a Formula 1 legend of having a “lingering bitterness” towards Lewis Hamilton. His comment comes in the wake of that same fans’ favourite’s effusive praise for Max Verstappen over what the Dutchman achieved at Suzuka last weekend.
The Red Bull racer was not fancied by many for pole position. But he beat both McLaren cars to the top of the timesheets in qualifying for the Japanese Grand Prix with one of the most impressive Saturday laps of his whole career which just pipped Lando Norris to pole despite being in a slower car.
Verstappen went on to convert that pole into his first victory of 2025, again by holding off the faster McLarens that were on his tail. But even before that, Fernando Alonso was clearly left impressed by what the Dutchman had achieved.
“Only he can do it,” said the Aston Martin racer. “I think there is no other driver at the moment that can drive a car and put it so high. Higher than the car deserves. I think it was a magical moment for everyone here.”
It was when that comment was put to former F1 racer Herbert that the Brit suggested Alonso’s admiration for Verstappen and his lack of individual praise for Hamilton who won for the first time as a Ferrari driver in the Chinese Grand Prix sprint earlier this year dates back to their unhappy union at McLaren many years ago.
Hamilton was a rookie in 2007 when he teamed up with Alonso, who was already a double F1 champion at that stage. But being challenged by his young new team-mate led to a significant amount of tension between them and to the Spaniard’s exit at the end of that year.
Herbert believes Alonso may still harbour some “lingering bitterness” towards Hamilton as a result. “I understand why Fernando Alonso is very supportive of Max Verstappen – Max and Fernando haven’t been team-mates. Lewis and Fernando have been team-mates,” he told PokerFirma.
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“It was a two-time world champion in Alonso who was full of confidence at the top of his game at McLaren in 2007. He expected Hamilton as the young whippersnapper, to be easily beatable – and it didn’t happen that way.
“So then that fight happened that season harmed the relationship at the end of the day from that point on. Purely because Lewis came in with a mighty bang and Alonso didn’t have it all his own way.
“He’s probably still got a lingering bitterness because of what happened at McLaren. I get that as a driver. You do get frustrated when you fully believe that you can do the job, and he probably felt he wasn’t supported as much as he felt he should have been by [team principal at the time] Ron Dennis.
“So anyway, respect to Max. He’s the guy that’s delivering even when he went into a weekend saying, ‘I’ve got no chance’.” Verstappen’s victory at Suzuka means he is in second place and just one point behind championship leader Norris heading into this weekend’s Bahrain Grand Prix.
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