McLaren
Mercedes
Red Bull
Ferrari
Williams
Racing Bulls
Aston Martin
Haas
Alpine
F1 pundit Juan Pablo Montoya has advised Oscar Piastri to “crash into” Charles Leclerc following their coming-together during last weekend’s Belgian Grand Prix.
In a battle for third place during the opening stages of the 44-lap race around the Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps last Sunday, Piastri was left with damage to his McLaren MCL40 after challenging Leclerc at Les Combes.
Is George Russell fighting with one hand behind his back, or is Kimi Antonelli just too good?
Antonelli extends his lead in the standings to 44 points after Spa!
As the Australian looked to go around the outside of the Ferrari ace, Leclerc moved towards the racing line, which saw them make contact.
Despite Leclerc’s movement in the braking zone, race control decided to take no further action, determining that the Monegasque racing driver was well within his right to follow the usual racing line.
However, F1 pundit Juan Pablo Montoya doesn’t quite see it the same way as the stewards, and has given Piastri a very questionable “solution” to avoid Leclerc’s “tendency to play chicken” in the future.
- READ MORE: Juan Pablo Montoya convinced Charles Leclerc is still not as ‘comfortable’ as Lewis Hamilton
Juan Pablo Montoya has some questionable advice to Oscar Piastri after Charles Leclerc incident at Spa
Speaking via AS Colombia, Montoya outlined how Leclerc did nothing wrong according to the rulebook, but added that the Ferrari ace probably shouldn’t have drifted over to the racing line due to the fact that Piastri was already alongside him.
While both drivers were able to continue racing until the chequered flag fell, with Leclerc scoring P2 and Piastri a P5, Montoya believes the Australian could have achieved much more without the early skirmish.
What would Lewis Hamilton beating Charles Leclerc at 41 do for his F1 legacy?
“[Leclerc] wrecked Piastri’s car and ruined his race,” Montoya began. “What he did there was really in the worst possible way, and Charles’s tendency to do that also affected Hamilton – that tendency to play chicken, to see who’s going to swerve first.”
Montoya then issued some advice to Piastri: “To tell you the truth, I said that the best way to solve that problem is to crash into Charles. Let them have a proper crash, and you’ll see he won’t ram anyone like that again.
“It’s awful to say, but if you look back at history a bit, it happened to me with Andretti, it happened to me with Schumacher, and with everyone it happened to me; we ended up crashing. From then on, they always gave me space. It’s just madness; they’ve got to learn.
“If Charles had crashed when he opened up going into the bend and I’d gone over the top of him, and he’d been sent flying and taken a knock – do you think he’d cut someone off again? Or would he learn his lesson?”
- READ MORE: Lewis Hamilton clearly pays price for his reluctance after Ferrari’s change on Charles Leclerc’s car
Charles Leclerc has now admitted that he pushed the limits with Oscar Piastri in Belgium
During Leclerc’s media commitments ahead of this weekend’s Hungarian Grand Prix, the nine-time Grand Prix winner admitted the stewards’ lack of action took him by surprise.
“I kind of agree with Oscar, I think,” Leclerc said after being told that Piastri was stunned at race control’s inaction, via The Race.
“At the end of the day, my view in the car is that I try to push the things to the limit. I think with Oscar it was a bit on the other side [of the limit]. That’s probably not the way I want to race all the time.
“It’s also risky for me at the end of the day, so, yeah. You’re always trying to leave the smallest place available. That was maybe a bit too sketchy,” he concluded.
Receive exclusive F1 news and updates twice a week to your mailbox
