Montoya: F1 needs to tell the FIA to leave Verstappen alone

Shortly after FIA President Mohammed Ben Sulayem declared that F1 drivers "are not rappers" and should not use foul language during official engagements on Grand Prix weekends. Not long after, Verstappen was handed a penalty for swearing during the drivers' press conference, on Thursday ahead of the Singapore GP weekend.

The penalty is a yet-to-be-determined community service stint for declaring his Red Bull was "f@cked" which prompted Verstappen to remain hilariously tight-lipped during press conferences thereafter. The spat between the triple F1 World Champion and the sport's governing body continues to simmer.

The issue that has divided the F1 paddock into two camps, one decrying FIA's meddling in petty affairs amid a gloriously competitive F1 season. The other camp agrees that expletive-laden language during official F1 and FIA functions, beamed around the world and published on social media, is not a good thing.

Speaking to the media team at Gambling Zone: Montoya, himself a fiery driver during his six seasons in F1, gave his view on the simmering saga: "The FIA over-reacted. After what happened in the press conference Max should just have been given a warning. It's petty as hell. And why?"

Referencing Verstappen's one-word responses to reporters impressed Montoya: “The way he managed it, I think it's classic. At the end of day the F1 at some point is going to tell the FIA to leave him alone because they need him. At some point, the FIA has to go, ‘Oh, we screwed up.’. But at the same time they have to go, they will feel that they need to stand by their decision as well.

“So, what do you do? Do you stand by your decision and play the long game? Or do you sit down with him and say, we’ve punished you but we’ll make it easy for you but we need to set the standard, so we don't take the penalties away, but we're going to come up with a solution that it's amicable for both parties.

“For example, they could get some kids to the track as a special event and they’ll say to Max they’ll need him for 20 minutes there and then we'll call a truce while reminding him he has to watch his language. And the problem would be solved.

“But if he becomes an ego thing and escalates, when does F1 step in and say to the FIA this is not good for the sport? If it was another driver. it probably wouldn't be an issue, but they tried to make an issue of it. Max is outspoken.

“They say they want drivers to be nice [and not swear] so why are they happy to publicise when they're screaming on the radio? And nobody talks about that because they know they want to build the sport and create that atmosphere. That is great. But you can’t have it both ways," added Montoya, a seven-time Grand Prix winner.