This is why Juan Pablo Montoya backs Max Verstappen after FIA penalties

Why Montoya backs Verstappen

The incident in Austin triggered a week-long debate about how Formula 1 racing rules are written and applied. The FIA said no adjustments had been made. Martin Brundle welcomed the stewards' harsher approach, but Montoya gave the opposite viewpoint.

"The stewards shouldn’t come down harder on Max. I think it is great what he does. He knows what the rules are and he pushes them. The first penalty was very clear and 100 per cent fair. Lando was there at the apex. He had to give him room and he didn’t. The second penalty? When you look at the ways the rules are written, Max never even tried making the corner. Max should have gone back to the track and let Lando by," Montoya stated in conversation with InstantCasino.com.

He feels the Red Bull driver should've been penalised but highlights a lack of consistency. "For me the biggest problem is why give Max a ten second penalty when Lando got a five second penalty in Austin? It doesn’t make sense," the 49-year-old Colombian added.

What causes the problem for Verstappen?

The seven-time race winner fears that Verstappen's attitude -who made it clear he cared little what the stewards, the FIA or the media think of him- could backfire. Yet he knows exactly where Verstappen is coming from and explained how he relates to him. "Look at me, I did F1 and hated it. It was too political for me. Something Max said recently summed it all up for me. He said,‘I have the wrong passport.’ That is so true," Montoya continued.

In recent weeks, the way the British media has portrayed Verstappen has been put in the spotlight. Adrian Newey, after his signing with Aston Martin was announced, believed Sky Sports often demonised Verstappen. Montoya can relate to this.

"He was alluding to the fact that the British media especially but also the German media controls the sport and how it is portrayed in the media. For me it was difficult. I was Colombian and the two seats I got in F1 were as replacement for British drivers, Button and Coulthard. Some British media hated me with their guts. You could see it. That always made it hard," he explained. "The other thing was I had Ralf Schumacher as a team mate and I was the only guy who was making his brother’s life miserable. When you have mainstream media from those two countries, it makes it hard. Everything that we read is biased against Max."

"If you read what the Dutch press says, it will be a very different story. They’d probably be saying Lando is a wuss and should have been more aggressive. We never hear the other side of the story because we don’t read the Dutch media. For the world, the Dutch media is irrelevant," Montoya concluded.

This article has been created in collaboration with Nicole Mulder