Juan Pablo Montoya is a big fan of Max Verstappen and his uncompromising vision of racing. The former F1 driver, who was not known for his finesse in battles and then had his glory days in the peloton in NASCAR, is amused to see how the four-time world champion does not compromise.
'Verstappen drives them crazy' Montoya told Vision4Sport. “First of all, he doesn't make a lot of mistakes or any at all. And secondly, he's comfortable with the idea of having a collision, and the team is happy about it. He’s hanging on.”
This skirmish blackmail that Montoya praises works well, as we saw in Qatar: “As soon as Max passed him, George didn't try to pass on the outside because he thought they were going to collide. George said he thought they were going to collide. So , in his mind, as soon as the lights went out, George gave up.”
Montoya is convinced that Lewis Hamilton and Fernando Alonso would not have given up, unlike Russell, or Lando Norris and Charles Leclerc: “I think if it had been Lewis he would have been the happy guy to go to the skirmish. That's why Lewis is a seven-time world champion. Max has four and no one else has. Because that’s what it takes.”
“And you know, if you go against Fernando to win a race, Fernando goes to crash too. But if you put George, George doesn't hang, Lando doesn't hang, [Oscar] Piastri could. Carlos could do it, but not Leclerc, who would then complain on the radio that his car is the most unfair on the planet, just like Lando. But that’s their nature.”
“But at the same time, Charles and Lando are very similar: They have incredible ultimate speed that allows them to win races when things are aligned well. They have enough speed to get the job done. But they're not the to race wheel to wheel and emerge victorious.”
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