Juan Pablo Montoya says Red Bull would have won Austrian GP if they listened to Max Verstappen

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Juan Pablo Montoya believes Red Bull made a mistake by not prioritising the feedback Max Verstappen gave them at the Austrian Grand Prix.

Verstappen earned a P2 finish at the Red Bull Ring, his best result of the season so far. It was a sensational drive from the four-time world champion, who looked back to his best.

Fans were also treated to an intense battle between Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton, who turned back the clock to their memorable championship rivalry in 2021 with their aggressive driving.

Heading into the race yesterday, there was concern that Verstappen wouldn’t win after cruelly losing pole position due to a dangerous crash.

However, Juan Pablo Montoya came out after the race and claimed that Red Bull actually cost Max Verstappen a chance to win by ignoring his requests on the radio.

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Juan Pablo Montoya claims Red Bull cost Max Verstappen the win by ‘overplaying’ their hand

Speaking on the F1 Post-Race Show, Juan Pablo Montoya had a lot of praise for Max Verstappen and his performance at the Austrian Grand Prix.

However, Montoya also blamed Red Bull for not listening to Max Verstappen and pushing their luck too much with their tyres.

“Not only the overtakes, the pace, the commitment he had. At one point, I thought, ‘he’s going to win the bloody race.’ He was close, he was coming.

“I think Red Bull tried to overplay their cards and thought, ‘We’re going to have a massive tyre advantage by going long,’ and then it took them too long. It was maybe two-three laps too long.”

During the race, Verstappen could be heard on the radio questioning the team’s tyre strategy and their over-reliance on the hard tyres despite only following a two-stop approach.

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Juan Pablo Montoya commends Max Verstappen for holding off rivals during Austrian GP

Speaking further during the show, Montoya also praised Verstappen for how he handled Kimi Antonelli’s mistakes and how well he maintained this advantage over the championship leader.

“As you can see, one of the hardest things is when you’re racing somebody, you open the door for a third car. Max did an amazing job taking advantage of it.

“At Turn 1, I thought Kimi was kind of clever to miss the corner and stay out of trouble. And then he went too deep into turn three, and it really cost him the position to Max.

“Trying to attack Charles, trying to be aggressive, and it backfired a little bit.”

Even after making a big mistake that led to his crash, Verstappen was able to bounce back in style his best outing of his season so far.

If anything, this result will give Red Bull more incentive to pay Verstappen, as his future with the team is up in the air.