Ex-F1 driver claims beating Max Verstappen and Red Bull today like “beating Michael Schumacher in Ferrari”

Juan Pablo Montoya and Michael Schumacher battled each other in the early 2000s for the Championship in Ferrari's peak years.

Max Verstappen and Michael Schumacher (via Imago)

Former F1 driver Juan Pablo Montoya was one of the biggest threats to Michael Schumacher during the German’s early 2000s domination period. Recently, the Colombian was a guest in the Beyond the Grid podcast and was asked about how it was competing with the legendary Ferrari driver.

Montoya spoke about how the package he had during his time at Williams was pretty strong but beating Michael Schumacher was nearly impossible. He also added how beating the German and Ferrari back then would be like beating Max Verstappen and Red Bull now. Juan Pablo Montoya and Michael Schumacher battled each other in the early 2000s for the Championship.

Defeating Ferrari in those years was like beating Red Bull today, it was almost impossible. In 2003 the BMW engine that equipped our Williams was the best engine, realistically you could beat them when Michelin brought a better tier, but when the performance of the tiers matched Ferrari overall had a better car than ours.

Juan Pablo Montoya said via Beyond the Grid Podcast.

The 48-year-old also added how battling the German needed him to be one hundred percent every race week as he was always on it. From what it looks like, the comparison is fair as Max Verstappen and Red Bull look just as unbeatable as Schumacher and Ferrari did back in the early 2000s.

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Juan Pablo Montoya reveals Michael Schumacher’s annoying trait

During his talk on the Beyond the Grid podcast, Juan Pablo Montoya also spoke about competitor Michael Schumacher’s traits. The Colombian later added how there was one thing that he found very annoying during his time competing with Michael Schumacher.

Juan Pablo Montoya and Michael Schumacher ( Image via IMAGO)

Montoya spoke about how it was annoying that no one raced the German during his time at Ferrari. Schumacher was held in very high prospects by other drivers, this led to barely any wheel-to-wheel battles with him when he was coming from the back.

The only thing with Michael was that nobody raced him. When Michael was coming from the back – everybody would get out of the way for him. That p*ssed me off.

Juan Pablo Montoya said.

From what it looks like, Montoya admired the seven-time World Champion’s resilience. Montoya along with Kimi Raikkonen were the only two drivers who could compete with the legendary German until 2005 when his reign was ended by Fernando Alonso.