Montoya: Verstappen talking like he was driving a Minardi

After a mid-season dip that saw McLaren and Mercedes take the spotlight, the reigning F1 World Champion has looked revitalised post summer break, and Juan Pablo Montoya believes the reason lies in how Red Bull’s engineers have refocused their approach while pointing out that the RB21 is no Minardi!

Montoya explained that while RB21 has seen limited upgrades late in the season, the team’s engineering group has extracted new performance through precision and focus rather than development: “Red Bull have found pace because engineers are maximising their current car. I know they had some improvements in the car.

"But because the new rules are coming, there's not a lot of updates going on in the current cars. The engineers are more focused now and on fine-tuning the cars better and maximising and exploring things that they were not doing before when they were getting upgrades every two or three weeks.

"Most of the engineers say, this is the way, this is the car, you can't make it better. The numbers say you can't make it better, but it's not all about the numbers; the numbers are really important.

"But the feel of the driver is really important. People forget that. If you put two guys together, and one is comfortable and the other one is uncomfortable, the guy who is comfortable is going to go quicker," explained Montoya.

Red Bull’s recent form has supported that logic. Verstappen dominated in Baku and remained competitive in Singapore despite claiming that the car felt poor compared to McLaren’s benchmark pace. Monty believes the Dutchman’s comments were more emotional than factual.

Montoya continued: “He was complaining in Singapore that the car was terrible, but the car was terrible because the McLaren’s were quicker. But he was taking time away from George at one point. He was the second fastest car on the grid, but Max was talking like he was driving a Minardi!”

The former Formula 1 and IndyCar Champion winner suggested Verstappen’s frustration was partly psychological — an indicator of how high his standards have become after years of dominance.

He explained: “When you’re used to leading every race by ten seconds and suddenly you’re fighting in traffic, it feels like the world has turned upside down. But that’s also what separates the greats: even when the car isn’t perfect, Max still finds a way to be right there.”

For Montoya, Red Bull’s current position reflects a mature engineering effort under regulation stability as he pointed out: “They’ve stopped chasing every small gain and started perfecting what they have. That’s when the car really starts to come alive again.”

As Verstappen aims to continue his late-season charge in Austin, the message from Montoya is clear: even when the Red Bull driver sounds frustrated, he is never far from the limit, and never far from winning.