Juan Pablo Montoya believes that only complacency will stop “amazing” Red Bull and Max Verstappen from cruising to the 2022 Formula 1 World Championship titles.
While Ferrari foibles have been well documented, even ridiculed, by motorsport media, somewhat missed in the narrative is the astounding job Red Bull are doing in snatching this world championship from their rivals despite enduring their own fumbles early on in the season.
While Ferrari came out the gates prancing, leading both championships, it took Red Bull a few races into this season to find the sweetspot in the RB18. Now that they have, Verstappen leads the championship by eighty points after 13 of the 22 rounds. Red Bull lead the constructors’ championship race with 197 points over Ferrari.
He heads to the Belgian Grand Prix at the end of the month with nine wins to his name, as a second successive title beckons for Max while Red Bull seek to win their first F1 constructors’ since 2013; last year Mercedes were the winners.
Former F1 driver Montoya is impressed with how Red Bull are handling this campaign and told VegasInsider: “Red Bull is pretty amazing. I think what Red Bull has, is that they are not afraid of losing. They have this attitude, doesn’t matter if we get it wrong, we tried. Where, Ferrari’s mentality is, let’s not screw it up, because we can win.
“If Red Bull doesn’t get complacent at how good they are running at the moment. And how things keep turning up their way. As with everything, you look at the last race in Budapest, they were starting tenth. Nobody thought they were going to win the race.
“Nobody was even thinking about it. Ferrari was racing to defend Mercedes, and when they realised what happened, they were like, ‘oh my god, we got beat, again, by Red Bull, how can that happen?’ And they are just putting themselves in bad situations over and over again.”
Hungary, before the summer break, a case in point as the Ferrari strategy and pitwall were caught shorthanded, live on TV, messing up the race that might have been a one-two for them, instead from tenth on the grid Verstappen took maximum points, spinning in the process!
Ferrari blundering handed him the unlikeliest of victories that day as the Scuderia deliver presents wrapped in Red bows to the Blues, far too often.
Juan Pablo: Ferrari made a lot of mistakes
Montoya continued: “I think it’s very interesting with F1 and the way it is going at the moment. Ferrari came up with the fastest car, and they haven’t really used it that well. They made a lot of mistakes, and everybody is wondering, are they going to put it all together, and when they do, is the car still going to be fast enough?
“The other big question mark is coming out of the break, the rumour is that Mercedes has a big, big upgrade coming for their cars. And, if that is the case, Mercedes really comes up with a car, which is really cool to see from Mercedes.
“They stay with their car. Everybody looked at what Red Bull did, and what Carlos Sainz did. Mercedes stayed with their way of doing their car. It was very interesting. It is very exciting.
“I think one of the big question marks when Mercedes comes in, is if Ferrari steps up, and Mercedes start fighting Red Bull, it can be really bad. But if Mercedes start getting in between Ferrari and Red Bull, and Red Bull starts scoring even more points, then it is a cruise for Max.
“You still gotta remember, there is still half of a Championship to go. So, you can’t count your eggs yet, cause you have seen drivers make mistakes. They all do, we all do. But, I think that is an important thing,” concluded Montoya on the subject.
This is how the championships stand ahead of the Belgian Grand Prix on 28 August:
