At the Sao Paulo Grand Prix, Max Verstappen had no intention of making the Turn 4 corner, and he probably wouldn’t have cared if he and Lewis Hamilton collided.
Juan Pablo Montoya, a former Formula One driver, believes this.
Last time out at the Interlagos circuit, Verstappen caused a stir when he ran deep at Turn 4 on lap 48 as Hamilton attempted to pass him for the lead.
Rather to risk a collision, the Mercedes driver went even wider than the Red Bull, causing both drivers to lose control and crash.
The stewards said there was no need to investigate at the time, but Formula One is now waiting for the results of a right to review hearing that Mercedes requested.
According to Montoya, it was a planned move to which Verstappen would not have objected if it had resulted in a crash.
“My honest opinion, the way I think Max looks at it is: if they crash he gains points,” Montoya said on ‘This Week with Will Buxton’ podcast. “As long as Lewis doesn’t finish ahead of him, he’s in a better situation for the championship.
“Lewis was alongside him and cleared him in the braking zone. There was no way as late as he braked he was gonna make the corner. I don’t think he had much of an intention of making the corner.
“I don’t have anything against Max. I actually really like Max and Red Bull, and they’ve done an amazing job to bring the fight to Mercedes. But I think they’re being surprised of how good Mercedes was.”
He added: “I think Lewis was really smart not to even try to turn in, because Max was going for the crash.
“It was a little bit of a return move at Silverstone. Yes, it’s a lot slower corner, but the precedent was kind of the same thing.
“He missed the apex. Look how Lewis got criticised for the crash in Silverstone – a really fast corner – because he missed the apex. Max didn’t even try to make the corner.”
Later in the race, Hamilton overtook Verstappen and won, cutting the Red Bull driver’s championship lead to 14 points with three races remaining.
Depending on the stewards’ decision on Friday, that might be slashed even more.
Montoya believes this year’s Formula 1 stewards have been far too uneven, claiming that if it had been someone like Nikita Mazepin, he would have been penalized instantly.
“In Austria, when people were going side by side and the guy in the outside wasn’t given enough room in the corner, because there was gravel, they were penalised, the guy in the inside,” said the Colombian.
“And here that guy drove him completely off the race track. How do you justify [it]?
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