Juan Pablo Montoya: Hamilton is trying to change Ferrari’s way of thinking

Speaking to CoinPoker, Formula 1 legend Juan Pablo Montoya has pointed out that Lewis Hamilton’s recent post-race interviews may be his way of trying to change Ferrari’s way of thinking, rather than believing the Brit may leave the team.

The Colombian also said he’s willing to put a bet on an ‘explosion’ within the McLaren team at some point this season, due to not having a championship winner since 2008.

Montoya has suggested Toto Wolff did not offer the deal Max Verstappen wanted and that’s the reason why the current world champion is staying at Red Bull next year.

Read the full interview below.

Question: Lewis Hamilton seems to be in a terrible state, saying he’s useless and he should be replaced. Where is his head, do you think?

JPM: “I think that his statement is not a sign of a meltdown. It’s a way of telling Ferrari, if you’re not going to listen to me, then you might as well take me out and let me go.

“The big thing here is Lewis is not getting the attention he wants and they’re not paying attention enough to him for what he wants and what he’s pushing for.

“He’s putting in a lot of hard work. I think he’s working really hard, but I think Ferrari is very structured in the way it does things. This is our way and accept it.

“But Lewis is going, ‘Your way doesn’t win!’

“I think there’s an internal fight with people saying Ferrari needs to listen to Lewis and ‘we need to change our ways.’

“That is really, really hard because there is a lot of tradition in Ferrari and a lot of politics in Ferrari. And I think Lewis is more used to Mercedes’ outlook which is,’ What do we need to do to win?’ It’s not about politics; it’s about results at Mercedes.”

Can you see him saying, if you don’t back me now, I’m going?

JPM: “I think he’ll wait next year for sure to see where they are. And if they struggle next year and he’s not competitive, I think he might just go, ‘You know what? That’s it. I’ve got other things in my life.’

“At the end of the day, he’s got a long contract with them to be an ambassador whether he drives a car or not. But you don’t want to see Lewis leave on a low.

“It’s a wakeup call. In the last couple of years when the Mercedes stopped being really good, I think he backed off in qualifying because there was no need. And I think to get it back is really difficult.

“Look at an onboard of Lewis in qualifying. That car does not suit him at all. You look at Charles, and Charles looks like Max, looks like Lando. He is precise.

“And Lewis is fighting with the car. He doesn’t trust the car. He’s trying, but it is just the way the car is set up for him does not match his driving style”

He has also hinted at things going on behind the scenes. What do you think he might have been referring to?

JPM: “I think what my point of view of what he is saying is that Ferrari are not really paying attention to him and they just want him there for his name.

“I think he’s pushing and maybe people are getting annoyed at how hard he’s pushing and maybe getting tired of what they see as his whining.

“He is trying to move the world by himself. And I think he needs more people in his corner to be able to get more done.”

Lewis has got lots of business interests which I imagine other people take care of for him. But his vegan burger chain has just gone bust, he’s starting a new non-alcoholic drink company, Are these distractions?

JPM: “I don’t get it. He wants to be portrayed as this cool vegan guy who doesn’t want to hurt any pets or any animals.

“But that guy shouldn’t be a race car driver. Because the guy that wants to be a successful racer driver is the person that doesn’t mind crushing people in his head. He does whatever it takes to win. That is what Lewis used to be, that is what Max is.

“I think from what you hear, he’s working really, really hard and he really wants success. That is very good to see, but he’s probably not getting enough traction within the team to get the changes. It’s really hard to get traction when the other guy on your team is quicker than you.”

Max Verstappen is staying at Red Bull for at least another year. Is he just biding his time, weighing up his options and waiting to see who has got the best unit in 26? Or is he committed regardless.

JPM: “He is going to look at options but what are the options that might be open to him. Do you think every team on the grid really wants Max? I‘m not so sure.

“The way that McLaren is running with the two guys and they are in harmony in the team, would you bring Max as a disruption to that team?

“Toto Wolff at Mercedes is a guy who wants to win whatever the cost.

“I think Toto is a different kind of racer than the McLaren group. The McLaren group is in a groove, it’s peace and love and everybody’s happy and we’re best friends and we hold hands when we go racing together.

“But if I was a betting person, there’s going to be an explosion at McLaren at some stage.

“It is a world championship they are fighting for. When was the last time McClaren had a world champion? 2008 with Lewis.

“They have the Constructors in the bag. And they want to let the drivers race. And they want to see fair racing.

“The big thing about McLaren of today is that they give their drivers freedom and they are being very fair in the way they are managing them.

“Back in the day when I was there, it was all very controlling.  

“The question for me is sooner or later they are going to end up crashing. You are going to get to the situation where because they are so close in points every position will matter. It will get to the point where you will be better off crashing your team-mate rather than losing the points to win a Championship.

“When we come to the last few races, and one guy is five points ahead and he passes you, and it means a swing in points, somebody is going to do something crazy.

“It doesn’t how good the relationship is or might be, this is one rare opportunity that they will have of being World Champion.

“But let’s say you’re Oscar and you have a 10 point advantage going into the last two rounds. And  Lando beats you, or is ahead of you in Qatar and you get a shot at passing him, how aggressive are you going to be on that overtake?

“You are going to go 100%, either I come out ahead or we crash.

“Let’s say Lando was behind and is about to win the title if he wins the last race, do you think Oscar is going to race him clean?

“There’s no f**king way.

“If the regulations were the same next year, I think the approach might be different. But with the new regulations being so dramatically different, and there’s no guarantee that the car is going to be competitive next year, this might be the only chance for them in their careers to be a world champion.”

Who is going to be world champion?

JPM: “I think Lando. In my house everybody wants Oscar, but I want Lando. I like Lando. I like both of them. I get on well with both.

“I think Lando’s a little quicker and he’s developed some real steel recently. What Lando did in Hungary made me sure that Lando’s going to win.

“Oscar had him covered all weekend. Oscar was better Friday. Going into qualifying, Oscar had the weekend in his hands. And Lando really stepped up through the race. He really stepped up and did the job in the race. He made the different strategy work. Everything is coming together.”

Going back to Max, do you think he’s made the right decision?

JPM: “I don’t think he had a choice. If I was negotiating with Max last year when he was winning the world championship, let’s say, it would have cost $100m.

“This year he’s in a struggling car. The number could be $50m.

“Maybe that was the reason he stayed. Maybe Max thought he was going to get $100m and whoever was speaking to him would have the upper hand, knowing that Max would want them more than they want Max.

“Last year, the number had to be like over the moon to get Max. I think this year, if you’re negotiating for Max, you can negotiate. Tell him, if you want to be here, this is the number. Toto could offer Max half what he would have needed to last year.”

Can Red Bull get it back together do you think? Or they’ve lost so many talented people, it’s going to take a long time. They’ve lost so much experience.

JPM: “On the engine side they have the right people. The question is have they come together in time to build the engine.

“I think they might surprise people with the power unit and that it might not be as bad as people think it is. They took all the top people from Mercedes, the top people from Ferrari, people from everywhere. They have a massive amount of information. It takes time to collate and integrate.

“The problem now for Red Bull next year, is that before you had one guy Adrian Newey that made the final decision on what went on the car.

“Now, everybody’s coming with new ideas, everybody’s trying things, and at the end of the day, the guy leading the direction is a different guy.

“What does Red Bull do now? You’re putting really good people in charge, but really good people with no experience of being in charge.

“You lose Christian, Adrian Newey and Jonathan Wheatley; that’s a huge loss of leadership.

“It’s going to take three or four years for them to come back to the dominance they had. In business like we have seen at adidas, a new CEO came in and it took him over a year just to understand the problems. Now they are flying.

“The problem with struggling a few years is that if they’re not winning, then Helmut Marko will go. So, who’s left?

“Let’s say you bring in Vettel, he’d be ok on the driving side, but he has no political experience in how to run a company.”

Does Verstappen staying at Red Bull close all the speculation about George Russell and Mercedes?

JPM: “I think the problem is George is only going to get a one year deal. And I think Antonelli is going to get a one year deal.

“If I was George and I had a good opportunity somewhere else, I would go. If Aston came today to George and offered him a seat for next year, I would take it, he should take it. And then let Mercedes realise what they have lost and figure out what they did next.”

Going back to McLaren, you said there’s going to be a fight to the death, and it’s going to be pretty savage stuff. How does Zach Brown keep the pressure off both of them?

JPM: “I think the rules need to be clear. The only way to prevent Armageddon there is to say if you hit your teammate on purpose, we’re going to make sure the other guy wins.”

Do you think whoever wins, the other one will leave?

JPM: “No, because they both have contracts. Whoever wins would create an awkward situation for a while, but they’ll get over it. But was Senna politically correct? Was Senna correct in the way he won races and championships? No. Was Prost fair? No. Was Lewis fair? No. Schumacher? No. Was Max? No.

“What is interesting for me is that you hear Zak saying, this is Lando’s era. It’s an interesting thing because you haven’t heard Zak saying, this is Oscar’s era. He’s always said this is Lando’s era.”

Do you think the momentum was with Lando? He’s won three of the last four?

JPM: “When you’re behind, it’s easy to come up and do what he’s done right now. And you start seeing excitement and screaming for him. Oscar’s coolness has dropped a little bit. But it means Oscar is going to work his butt off through this. Lando cannot relax and Oscar needs to step up.

“So, it’s going to get to a point where, whether it’s intentional or not, they’re going to come together. Every point is going to matter. Every pass that you don’t make, every dive bomb that you don’t make, is points that you gave away.”

We’ve got the new kids coming in next year in Cadillac and Perez and Bottas are supposed to be the dream team they’re going to sign. Do you agree with that?

JPM: “In the first year they are going to need experience and so having Bottas and Perez makes sense. That gives them time to look at what’s out there. Then they chose one of those two to build a team around.

“For year two or three you need to look to pick a young guy for the future.

“If you if you pick up the right young guy and you can develop them for like three four years when you get things together, that guy will be ready to win.”

So for the short term though, do you think a partnership of Bottas and Pérez would be the right one to start with?

JPM: “Yes. I would sign one for two years and the other one for a year. I wouldn’t sign both for two years.”