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Montoya sides with Verstappen in Russell feud: 'Max is driving them nuts'
- Ludo van Denderen
Juan Pablo Montoya is a former F1 driver whose racing style and peppery statements always caused controversy. It is no surprise that the Colombian is a fan of Max Verstappen, who also always says what he thinks and feels. Montoya fully understands why Verstappen has said what he said after the hassle in the steward's room in Qatar.
For days now, Max Verstappen and George Russell have been feuding after the former accused the Mercedes driver of underhandedness after the Qatar Grand Prix. Everyone has focused on the issues between the two. Russell has since verbally hit back at Verstappen for the comments he made about losing respect for him. Montoya understands why Verstappen said that. "I agree [with why Max Verstappen lost respect for George Russell]. That was pretty unnecessary", Montoya told Vision4Sport.
According to the former F1 driver, the other drivers greatly focus on Verstappen. "Verstappen drives them crazy. First of all, he doesn't make a lot of mistakes or any. And secondly, he's comfortable crashing, and the team is happy if he crashes." says the Colombian, using the Qatar Grand Prix as an example for the latter. "George wasn't going to try to steer around the outside because he thought they would collide. George said it, I thought we were going to crash. So, in his mind, as soon as the lights went, George gave up. He said to himself, ‘I can't do this'".
This is why Verstappen is the champion and Russell is not
Montoya's belief is that Verstappen has a mental advantage over Russell. "I think if that would have been Lewis, he would have been the guy that is happy crashing. And that's why Lewis is a seven-time world champion. Max has four, and nobody else does. Because that's what it takes. If you're going against Fernando on a chance of winning a race, Fernando crashes too."
"But if you put George, George ain’t crashing, Lando is not crashing, Piastri might. Carlos might, Leclerc wouldn't, and then he’d complain on his radio that he has the most unfair thing on the planet with his car, the same as Lando. But it's their nature."
"But at the same time, Charles and Lando are very similar where they have amazing ultimate speed that when things line up, they can win the races. They have enough speed to get the job done. But they're not the guy that is going to go wheel to wheel and come out ahead.
This article was translated by Savannah Lenz.