In the highly debated Sergio Perez-Max Verstappen Spanish lead, Juan Pablo Montoya sided with the Dutchman. To salt the wounds further, he claimed that Checo wasn’t fast enough.

After Charles Leclerc’s mid retirement, things started looking easier for Red Bull. Though faced with an off-track excursion and later George Russell’s defence, Verstappen finally landed the car on P1.

This certainly was difficult for the Red Bull camp, which had to adapt to newer strategies. Pitting Perez and Verstappen accordingly so that he could undercut the competition was certainly not easy. However, when Verstappen rejoined on lap 45, he was ahead of Russell and was safe for the next laps.

Juan Pablo Montoya advises Sergio Perez to build a bigger gap

Juan Pablo Montoya, a former F1 racer, believed that Verstappen would’ve won the race either way. Speaking on the situation, Montoya claimed, “They wouldn’t tell him to slow down so Max can win the race. This happened in the past between Rubens Barrichello and Michael Schumacher. Checo just wasn’t fast enough and Red Bull didn’t want the two of them to fight on track. Max had newer tires and I think he would have won the race anyway.” 

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The Colombian even suggested that Perez will have to perform better in order to keep his lead. Adding further, he explained, “He knew Max was on a different strategy and then he just has to push harder. If he’d made a bigger hole, the team wouldn’t have been able to impose anything on him.”

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Apart from the drama which has unfolded, fans are still curious that for how long Verstappen can maintain his lead?

Verstappen comfortably leads, but for how long?

Max Verstappen now stands as the championship leader and stands 6 points clear off Charles Leclerc. In fact, the Dutchman has completely crushed the competition with a sensational comeback and erasing the 40-point lead that Leclerc once had.

With the first titular lead, a lot can happen from here on. Arguably, Ferrari had the faster car until they faced issues. If not for the turbo failure, Leclerc was on his way to a comfortable win. Notably, even Red Bull was not short of issues as the DRS flap notoriously did not open, leaving Verstappen in anguish.

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Moreover, with Mercedes slowly regaining their race pace, the competition has gotten tighter. What do you think? Does this year already belong to Verstappen? Or there’s more to come?