Montoya: “Call from F1 leaders to Verstappen? It wouldn’t surprise me”

The Colombian noticed a change of direction. After more than a month of waiting, F1 is ready to return to the track in Miami in what will be the second Sprint weekend of the season. The weekend in Florida will be the first with the new regulations regarding energy management and therefore the first free practice session has been extended by 30 minutes to give teams and drivers time to take measures in view of the Sprint Qualifying. The changes to the regulations were made in an attempt to reduce the lift and coast in Qualifying and to avoid as much as possible the occurrence of other episodes such as the one involving Franco Colapinto and Oliver Bearman with the latter who, in order to avoid his colleague’s Alpine while charging, was essentially forced to go off the track, losing control of his Haas. Max Verstappen was very critical of the 2026 regulation and Juan Pablo Montoya would not be surprised by a possible phone call received from the Dutchman – and not only – with a view to lowering the tone of the controversy in favor of constructive criticism which does not necessarily have to be carried out in the press: “I wouldn’t be surprised if someone from F1 had called Max and told him to shut up – said Montoya reached by Betpack – I guarantee you that they spoke with him and with all the drivers and they told them that in this game two can play. Since then, none of the drivers have said anything. I think the drivers are starting to understand that they have to be part of the solution rather than part of the problem. Since then, everyone has changed their minds appeared on an F1 program and said that the cause of the accident was Colapinto’s maneuver coming out of corners. Their perspective is changing completely, and this is because F1 has taken them by the balls, as it should have done at the beginning of the year.”

Automobile Magazine – F1 English News
2026-04-30 18:00:00