Juan Pablo Montoya has seen this story earlier than. Driver will get pissed off. . After which the game strikes on with out him.
The isn’t shopping for the concept Method 1 ought to rewrite its rulebook as a result of Max Verstappen is sad sitting within the midpack and he made that crystal clear in a wide-ranging interview this week with Casinostugan.
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Max Verstappen’s Issues: Not the Laws however His Automobile
Credit score: F1
Verstappen at present , already 50 factors behind after simply three races. The four-time world champion has been relentless in his criticism of the brand new energy unit rules, famously describing the expertise as “Method E on steroids.” And whereas Montoya has some sympathy for the frustration, he attracts a tough line at altering the principles to go well with one driver or one workforce.
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“I perceive his frustration, however the issue is for him he’s come from successful races to be within the fifth workforce,” Montoya mentioned. “He has by no means been on this place like this earlier than in his profession. He has at all times been actually aggressive.”
That’s a big level. Verstappen dominated 4 consecutive championships and completed second in 2025. What he’s experiencing now, being caught behind a Pierre Gasly and unable to cross, is genuinely international to him. However Montoya’s argument is that the brand new rules had been on the desk years in the past, and everybody knew what was coming.
“All of them knew this 4 years in the past,” he mentioned. “He is likely to be proper, he is likely to be fallacious, however that’s what the principles at the moment are. And that is the ball he has been given to play with.”
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In terms of Purple Bull particularly, Montoya isn’t letting the workforce off the hook both. Purple Bull has struggled to combine the brand new energy unit structure and vitality administration techniques throughout the RB22’s general package deal and Montoya sees a development drawback on the root of it.
“Purple Bull constructed a heavy automotive, the identical as Williams did, they usually’re paying the value,” Montoya mentioned. “It’s powerful and it’s onerous since you is likely to be aggressive for 5 laps, and also you’re bleeding tempo when everyone else’s cruising.”
Montoya to Adrian Newey: Follow the Engineer Position
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Montoya additionally weighed in on , the place the legendary designer is navigating a really totally different set of obligations than on the drafting board. The take was blunt.
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“Adrian is an engineer and he ought to persist with that,” Montoya mentioned. “He’s good at designing automobiles. He isn’t a workforce principal. He isn’t there to cope with the press. He shouldn’t be coping with sponsors. His solely focus needs to be on making the automotive go sooner which is what he’s good at.”
Ouch.
F1’s Path Ahead on Laws Adjustments
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On the broader regulation debate, Montoya did provide a authentic path ahead — sector-specific limits on vitality deployment — significantly as a security response to incidents like , which resulted from large pace differentials created by vitality deployment gaps between drivers.
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“The one answer they will do, if it’s a security concern, is to restrict the quantity of vitality deployment in sectors,” Montoya mentioned. “Then it’s honest sport for everyone.”
However he’s fast to notice the tradeoffs. Pull vitality again too far, and the game dangers returning to the period of DRS trains which was a parade of automobiles with no significant motion.
“Then you definately’re going to get to the following race and no person’s going to cross anyone,” he mentioned. “After which folks will complain that the racing is boring. You’re going to repair the security problem however you’re going to finish up folks sitting like they used to sit down within the DRS trains.”
And if Verstappen in the end walks? Montoya’s message is easy — he did it himself, and the game survived.
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“If he needs to go away, he ought to go away,” Montoya mentioned. “I did that, I left F1.”
Method 1 and the FIA have scheduled conferences with groups in April to debate regulatory tweaks forward of the Miami Grand Prix in Could, giving the game a real window to deal with the security considerations Montoya and others have flagged. Whether or not these talks produce significant change stays to be seen.
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