Racing Icon Declares Max Verstappen ‘Surprised’ Red Bull Before Italian GP Win

Juan Pablo Montoya revealed that Max Verstappen surprised even his own team with an unlikely setup for Italian GP win.

Racing Icon Declares Max Verstappen ‘Surprised’ Red Bull Before Italian GP Win

Max Verstappen winning the 2025 Italian GP (via Red Bull)

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Max Verstappen shocked the entire F1 paddock at the Italian GP. The Dutch driver broke his winless run to take the third win of the season. But Verstappen’s brilliance was not just limited to his Sunday drive. Former F1 driver Juan Pablo Montoya has revealed that the 27-year-old even surprised his crew at Red Bull during the weekend.

The Italian GP has one of the most high speed circuits in the calendar, Monza. The track has long straights and tight chicanes. Usually, teams often bring special ‘Monza-spec’ rear wings for the race to get maximum speed on the straights. Though Max Verstappen had clarified that Red Bull did not have such a wing for the race at the Temple of Speed. Yet, the reigning world champion was quick enough to not only take pole position but also dominate the race on Sunday.

Juan Pablo Montoya claimed that Max Verstappen had instructed his team to configure his rear-wing to an extremely low-downforce setup. This raised doubts within the garage at first. However, Verstappen proved himself right after taking pole position. This led to the 27-year-old even laughing in joy on the team radio. Montoya asserted that the Dutch driver knew exactly what he was doing. The decision to change the wing setup was a calculated risk that paid off.

I think even Red Bull was surprised. The engineers didn’t want to do it, but Max said, ‘Do it, I want it this way.’ And after qualifying, Max said over the radio that it had actually worked, and he laughed. A driver like Max, with so much experience, it makes sense—he knows when to take risks. Honestly, it’s logical to be bold.

Juan Pablo Montoya said on MontoyAS podcast

McLaren could do ‘nothing’ to stop Max Verstappen at Italian GP

Since the start of the season, McLaren has had a substantial pace advantage against Max Verstappen and Red Bull. Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris have become the only two contenders for the world title. However, at the Italian GP, things were quite different. It appeared that the Woking-based squad had no answer for Verstappen’s pace.

Lando Norris and Max Verstappen (via Red Bull)
Lando Norris and Max Verstappen (via Red Bull)

Juan Pablo Montoya pointed out that with the lower downforce rear wing, Max Verstappen was quicker than McLaren. It was expected that the British team would have a better time in the race with less tire degradation, Norris and Piastri were simply no match against Verstappen. This allowed the reigning world champion to comfortably win the race with a lead of almost 20 seconds.

One surprising thing was that Red Bull ran less wing than McLaren. You would have expected McLaren to be faster in the race with less tire degradation, but that wasn’t the case. McLaren could do nothing against Red Bull.

Juan Pablo Montoya added

Certainly, Max Verstappen’s Monza Victory is one of the biggest highlights of the season. Even Tifosi cherished the occasion and sang the infamous Verstappen meme song. Nevertheless, Red Bull has no time to waste. The Dutch driver might’ve pulled off an incredible result, but there’s still a long way to go for Verstappen to challenge for victories at every race weekend.

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