Montoya rips into Verstappen over 'insane' Russell crash: 'He lost his head'

16:06, 08 Jun

byNorberto Mujica

Juan Pablo Montoya has given his verdict on Max Verstappen's Spanish Grand Prix. For the Colombian former F1 driver, the reigning champion 'lost his mind.'

After Red Bull Racing had decided to put Max Verstappen on a three-stopper, which kept the Dutchman in touch with the leading McLarens of Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris, a late safety car derailed the Austrian team's and Verstappen's race altogether.

With scarce tyre availability the choice came down to put the reigning world champion on a set of underperforming new set of hards, or on a used set of softs. The Milton Keynes-based outfit opted for the new set of hards and what ensued was a fierce fight to hang on for dear life to his P3.

It was impossible as the tyre wasn't in the optimum temperature range and therefore had very little grip, whereas his rivals had all switched to a softer compound, with Charles Leclerc taking advantage of the Dutchman's huge oversteer moment at the restart to take P3 and with George Russell attempting to pull off a daring move up the inside of the Dutchman into Turn 1 which resulted in contact and launched Verstappen into the run off, but still being able to keep P4 ahead of the Briton.

Max Verstappen

Red Bull's call to instruct Verstappen to give the place back too conservative?

Verstappen's race engineer Gianpiero Lambiase reached out to the Dutchman and told him to give the place back to Russell. Would Montoya have done the same were he Red Bull? Speaking on the podcast MontoyAS, the Colombian said: "It's very complicated because the FIA's rules are 'black and white'," said Montoya encapsulating the finishing phrase in air quotes.

"But it's so close, to the point where it could've been a penalty, it [might not have been] a penalty. There was a very big chance that they could have given him a penalty if he didn't give back in position."

"So, to avoid a 5-second penalty, it was easier to let him pass, and pass him again, and that's it. You know, it was like washing the hands of the problem. And Max lost his head."

Will there be a boycott if Verstappen gets a race ban for the Austrian Grand Prix?

Verstappen currently sits pretty at 11 points on his superlicense, with the danger of accruing only one more and thus getting a race ban looming over his head. What could the potential repercussions be should he get the 12th penalty point in Canada and was forced to skip Austria, Red Bull's home race, and another one of Verstappen's 'home races.'

"I ask the million dollar question. If for some reason Max gets the 12th point, are they going to do a Grand Prix without Max? Really? If he does something in this (Canadian Grand Prix, ed.) and 90% of the audience [In Austria] is Dutch, are you going to tell me that they are going to sabotage the race and no one will show up?"