Ex-F1 driver claims Red Bull driver strategy focused on ‘peace within the team

Juan Pablo Montoya compares Red Bull's driver approach to handling its drivers with Mercedes.

Ex-F1 driver claims Red Bull driver strategy focused on ‘peace within the team

Max Verstappen, Helmut Marko, and Christian Horner (Via: Imago)

Juan Pablo Montoya explained that Red Bull Racing focuses on maintaining peace within the team. This season, Max Verstappen, with six wins out of nine races, is the driver to beat. Montoya noted that during Lewis Hamilton‘s reign Mercedes supported both their drivers, but Hamilton outpaced his teammate, whereas Red Bull prioritizes Max Verstappen only.

Montoya stated it’s like It’s like when Lewis Hamilton kept winning all the races, even though he had a teammate who was also really good at racing. The 48-year old explained how Mercedes supported their drivers, they chose to make sure both the drivers could compete strongly. As the Silver Arrows put effort into giving both Lewis Hamilton and his teammate a good chance to win. On the other hand, Red Bull adopts a completely different approach.

It’s the same as when Lewis Hamilton won every race, although he still had a competitive team-mate, Mercedes consciously chose to be competitive with both cars, Red Bull clearly has a different strategy
Juan Pablo Montoya told Formula1.nl
YouTube video

The Colombian stated that Red Bull’s approach allowed harmony between Max Verstappen and his teammate. As the entire crew knew one out of the driver had the chance to win. However, as a fan perspective they might prefer Mercedes way of doing things.

FS Video
As a team, I can imagine that it provides peace internally – on a sporting level – but from a fan perspective you most likely prefer Mercedes’ approach.
Juan pablo said

Juan Pablo Montoya claims Mercedes does not favor a single driver

Montoya noted, at Mercedes they they didn’t treat one car as better than the other. They made sure both cars were strong and could win races, a good example of that was Nico Rosberg was able to win the world championship while racing along with Lewis Hamilton. Even Valtteri Bottas has won many races too, this explains enough that Mercedes didn’t favor one driver over the other.

At Mercedes there was not a number one car and a number two car. They always managed to make both cars competitive and the best proof is Nico Rosberg, who even became World Champion alongside Lewis. And Valtteri Bottas has also won many races.
Juan Pablo said
George Russell and Lewis Hamilton
George Russell and Lewis Hamilton (via IMAGO)

Further, The Colombian explained these drivers aren’t racing well now or Max Verstappen suddenly got better. This is not true and this is not how racing works, each season brings new challenges and changes in performance. At the end what matters to fans and everyone is having an exciting competition.

And look, where are they now? Have they forgotten how to race? And did Max suddenly learn it? Nonsense of course, this is just the nature of the sport. But essentially what we want is competition. An intense battle for the title.
Juan Pablo added

Overall, Montoya explains Red Bull’s current situation is terrible but they try to hide it from outside world, they must prioritize both the drivers to compete intensely with the other teams. Red Bull fans would love to see both drivers performing at their peak by the end of the season.

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