F1 pundit suspects Ferrari and Charles Leclerc are in for a rude awakening when it comes to Max Verstappen's advantage in a Red Bull

Former F1 driver Johnny Herbert claims that Ferrari and Charles Leclerc might have to 'worry' when it comes to Max Verstappen and Red Bull this season despite improving their performance.

The SF-24 has been the second-fastest car behind the RB-20 and has finished P3 in the first two races of the season, with Carlos Sainz and Charles Leclerc both taking a podium each. The Italian team seemed to have eradicated some of their core issues such as race pace and tire degradation from last year as seen in Bahrain and Saudi Arabia.

Herbet feels the sport hadn't seen the best of Max Verstappen despite his winning the first two races of the season. He told RacingNews365:

"My only little chink of worry is that I don't think we've seen the best of Max this season anyway because he doesn't need to show it. That's the worry, that he still has something in his back pocket where he can go 'Okay, you think you're closer, there's another couple of tenths'.

"I think that's probably the only thing that's going to be a little bit more of a headache for Charles and Ferrari, and for when Carlos comes back, because he (Verstappen) is so comfortable in the car, and they are in total harmony together."

Former F1 driver chimes in Ferrari challenging Red Bull's Max Verstappen in 2024

Johnny Herbert feels that Ferrari has resolved their issues from last year and might further improve in the 2024 season with their upgrades but hinted that might not be enough to catch Max Verstappen and Red Bull.

As quoted by the aforementioned source, the 59-year-old said:

"It's still going to be down to the classic situation that the updates that come along have to make an impact, to improve the Ferrari, of course, but the impact of getting closer and putting Max and Red Bull under pressure.

"Equally they (Red Bull) are going to be doing very similar things but it's who can do a bigger job. Ferrari should be able to do so just because Red Bull is ahead of the game anyway, and ahead of the pack."

Given the start of the season, it seems difficult to stop Max Verstappen in the RB20, similar to his 2023 campaign. Rivals and fans alike would hope to get a win or two from the Austrian team as the reigning world champions look a class apart once again in 2024.