Montoya: Max to win Bahrain, Merc sandbagging, watch Ferrari and George
F1 NewsThursday, 17 March 2022 at 17:13
Juan Pablo Montoya was never one shy to speak his mind, and ahead of the 2022 Formula 1 championship season-opening Bahrain Grand Prix which he boldly predicts will be won by Max Verstappen and suspects Mercedes were sandbagging during testing.
Until anyone else shows F1 title-winning credentials the majority are likely to pout their money on Max or on Lewis, indeed they are the odds on favourites for the 2022 title, albeit the Red Bull driver slightly ahead of his Mercedes rival.
Montoya speaking to VegasInsider, suggested that despite Hamilton's downbeat assessment of the Mercedes W13, Montoya is not buying it entirely: "The Mercedes camp cars seem to have the most issues at the moment or is it that they're sandbagging and not showing what they are."
"And I think that's a major possibility. It's crazy because we're doing all this talk and we're gonna get to the race weekend and it might be that Red Bull's really fast and Mercedes is right there. And then you go: oh that's the same.
JPM: If I was a betting person, my money would be on a Red Bull and Max Verstappen for Bahrain
He added: "Then you look behind and then you see a Ferrari and McLaren, and an AlphaTauri and an Aston, all mixed together. And then you're gonna see behind a mixture of the Alfa Romeo and Williams and the Haas, all three together. And you go: oh, nothing changed.
"That's a great possibility as well. It is. It's just so likely to happen! It's so frustrating that they pull the rules upside down and you look at the qualifying results, you look at Abu Dhabi and this and you go: well, that didn't change."
As for dipping into his pocket for a wager to pick a winner in Bahrain on Sunday evening, Montoya predicted: "If I was a betting person, my money would be on a Red Bull and Max Verstappen for Bahrain If it was for winning, I would probably put Red Bull with Max."
But at the same time Montoya is clearly impressed with the solutions teams have found for ther new regs, in fact he raved about what he saw: "Look at the Mercedes packing of the car, it's insane and they're really having a lot of issues. But when you go racing, oh my god.
"That's the other thing with the Mercedes is, it's just floor. So if you get close to somebody and touch that floor and you break it, you're gonna break half of the floor and a cut tire really easy."
Montoya: Yes you're teammates, yes you like each other but you still want to beat the hell out of him
"With a Ferrari, you hit the side pod, because they're wide. Not ideal, but you're gonna rub against the side pod and you might damage a little bit of the floor. That's another one," added the former F1 driver.
If any team looks set to gate-crash the Merc-Bulls party it will be the two Charlies at Ferrari, both top-notch drivers at the peak of their abilities. Like all fans Montoya is intrigued and, of course, has opinions on how it will all pan out at Maranello.
"Two things are gonna happen in Ferrari," continued Montoya. "Either Charles (Leclerc) can bounce back a little or the gap is going to get bigger, to Carlos (Sainz). Because at the end of the day, it's a mental war.
"Yes you're teammates, yes you like each other but you still want to beat the hell out of him. If you start going to race weekends and you're getting your ass kicked every week, it makes it really difficult."
As for the underdog, Montoya will keep a watch on Mercedes new kid on the block George Russell: "Underdog, I would suspect he's gonna be really good is George (Russell) with the Mercedes. He is going to surprise more than anyone else."
The 2021 F1 World Championship season, scheduled for 23-rounds, begins with Round 1 on Sunday, 11 March, with the Bahrain Grand Prix.
(Quotes provided by to VegasInsider)
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