Johnny Herbert believes the “push them onto the grass” lessons that Max Verstappen learnt at Michael Schumacher’s knee still resonate with the World Champion today.

Verstappen earned Herbert’s ire on his way to his fourth World title last season with the F1 race steward not holding back in his criticism of the Red Bull driver.

Max Verstappen “got this horrible reputation”…

Verstappen went wheel-to-wheel with Lando Norris for the 2024 title, resulting in several on-track battles between the two protagonists.

The most notable of those was Austin and Mexico, but while it was Norris who, by the letter of the law, was penalised for passing Verstappen off the track at the United States Grand Prix even though Herbert and other pundits felt Verstappen’s driving had crossed the line.

Racing for position on lap 52 of the 56-lap Grand Prix, Verstappen deliberately ran a very wide line – so wide he was off the track – to force Norris even wider.

That meant that when the McLaren driver kept his foot down to make the pass, he was in the wrong for passing a competitor off the track. Norris was slapped with a five-second time penalty.

The shenanigans continued a week later in Mexico when Verstappen was penalised twice in one lap for forcing Norris off the track and then passing him while he was off the track.

Herbert declared at the time: “Verstappen’s driving style was harsh, especially when he’s taking a fellow driver off the track. It’s an absolute no-no from me, current drivers, former drivers and stewards.

“He doesn’t need to do it, he’s so good in the cockpit and at this point in the championship, he just needs to stay out of trouble and drive as well as possible.”

The war-of-words disintegrated into accusations of bias and then British bias but if you ask Herbert it all comes down to Verstappen father’s Jos’ advice to his son back in his junior racing days. Advice that was based on the lessons he learnt as Michael Schumacher’s team-mate while watching the seven-time World Champion’s at times ruthless antics.

Back then, Jos recently told F1-Insider, he told Max: “We often went karting with our children Mick and Max. Michael didn’t differentiate between Max and Mick. If he had something to say, he told them both.

“It’s quite possible that Max also benefited from these experiences. Max has a lot in common with Michael: uncompromising on the racetrack, but kind, sensitive and caring as a private person.”

Herbert said of that to Casinoutanspelpaus.io: “I think the type of comments that Michael Schumacher may have spoken to Max Verstappen about would stick with you. But I know Jos Verstappen would still be making sure that he doesn’t forget them at the same time.

“I think he’s used so much on how Michael worked within a team to make the maximum step in the group that we’ve got today, the strength that he’s got and has had since a very, very young age from when he first got into Formula 1.

“And I always remember when he did his first season in Formula 1, he got this horrible reputation of driving people off the circuit, being a hard racer.

“And he was like, ‘well, hard racing is what it’s all about. You don’t put people in the wall, you push them onto the grass’.”