Miami Grand Prix ambassador Juan Pablo Montoya would put money on Max Verstappen winning the first Formula 1 race in the Florida city.
Indeed, Verstappen was majestic at Imola, and has been at the sharp end of proceedings in every session of the first four rounds held thus far. Only Red Bull reliability let him down with two DNFs, but the warning from Italy is that the hunter is hunting Charles Leclerc’s early championship lead.
Until Ferrari’s home race, Leclerc had not put a foot wrong. But pressure, or whatever it is with Italy and the Reds, he fumbled for the first time while Verstappen gobbled up the maximum score on the high-points paying Sprint Race weekend.
Red Bull also had the slightest of edges in a season where the pendulum sways one way or the other, with little movement between either side; it’s very close and is the swinging from Ferrari to red Bull is probably going to be track dependent, which however is the great unknown.
Speaking ahead of the Miami weekend, Montoya told VegasInsider: “If I was a betting person, I would probably put my money on Max.
“I think Charles, with the crash… unless the team went to him and said: just keep pushing, don’t worry about it; if they said that to him, he could still win the race. But my money would be on Max this week. Especially with the Miami weather.”
Montoya: The weather could be a massive twist for the race.
Yes, rain is being forecast for Sunday of the race which, coupled with the challenges of a new track, new tarmac surface, the unforgiving nature of street circuits and all that goes with those factors, is sure to tax teams and drivers… rain on race day would multiply that drastically.
Montoya, a Miami resident since 2006 who well knows the climate in the city, pointed out: “The weather could be a massive twist for the race. Might miss the track. Might get part of the track wet. That’s going to be quite interesting.
“They will have spotters and radars and everything to let the teams know where the rain is coming from, but it’s very hard to predict.
“You don’t get a lot of rain, but you get really heavy showers for five minutes. It’s not just a light drizzle, it’s full wet floor and full humidity. In a lot of places, you can see the front coming. Not here. It’s just: Pop, gets everything wet and goes away.”
“I think the biggest winner from a wet track would be Max, he would have a big advantage. He seems to be very strong and comfortable in the wet. But if it’s dry, I would probably put my money on Ferrari.”
How Leclerc bounces back from the will be a true test of his character
The incident happened in front of expectant Tifosi packed into the stadium named after Ferrari founder and his son, while battling a double-pronged Red Bull charge, adding insult to injury as teammate Carlos Sainz binned it on the opening lap.
How Leclerc bounces back is intriguing for ten-time Grand Prix winner Montoya: “It will be interesting to see what Charles does after the mistake last week if he keeps committing and everything works great or if he goes down a notch on performance just to be cautious and not make a mistake.
“If you do that, then you’ll put yourself in a bad situation because you take performance away,”
Verstappen on the other hand is in a different zone according to the Columbian: “I find it quite intriguing right now, because if you look at Verstappen, he looked really comfortable the first couple of races, then he wasn’t really there.
“If you look at the Grand Prix in Saudi Arabia, for Checo to beat him, and no disrespect to him, it’s surprising. I don’t think anybody expected it. Especially with what we have seen before.
“But if you look at the Max that showed up halfway through the sprint race in Imola and on Sunday, that guy, with that car, they are going to struggle to beat,” warned Montoya.
As for who to look for beyond Verstappen and Leclerc, the 1999 Champ Car champion and double Indy 500 said: “It could be a really good day for a guy like Checo or Lando. They are the two guys that could surprise you. I think being a new track, the young kids.“
“Either Checo, with the Latin thing being here in Miami. A lot of Mexicans are here. This is like a second home race for him. This is going to be more of a home race than Austin.
“I think the atmosphere for a guy like Lando, can really make him stand out. And he’s going to feel at home here. That’s going to be really interesting to see,” added Montoya.
Verstappen lies second in the 2022 F1 World Championship, with 59 points with Leclerc topping the table on 86 points ahead of Round 5 this weekend in Miami.
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