Former F1 star Juan Pablo Montoya believes that Lando Norris should be willing to crash into Max Verstappen at the Brazilian Grand Prix in a brutal act of revenge following the pair’s dramatic wheel-to-wheel battle in Mexico City.
At the Mexican Grand Prix last weekend Norris attempted a clean move around the outside of Verstappen at Turn Four but was shoved off in the process. After keeping hold of the position, the three-time world champion attempted a wild lunge at Turn Eight that would have taken both drivers out, had the McLaren man not taken avoiding action.
Until now, Norris’ mantra has been to race clean and fair, leaving it up to Verstappen to decide how he wants to fight and win a fourth Drivers’ Championship title. According to Montoya, however, he needs to change his tactics.
“It is surprising that Lando just gets out of the way,” Montoya told InstantCasino.com. “Max is the bully. As a racer, it is not what you want to see but it is a smart play. Max is more used to guys like Lewis [Hamilton] who wouldn’t stop at taking him out.
“Max has two approaches; if he is desperate for pace which the Red Bull has been, Max can try to run Lando over and crash and take the points away or if he doesn’t have the position to do that, he will just ride around and take the points. That’s all he has to do. It’ll be hard for Lando to win from here.
“When you have a guy like Lando who is very fast and a very clean driver, you can’t go trying to fight a championship against Max with Lando saying how much respect he has for him and he’s the best driver in the world! You might think that, but he shouldn’t be saying that publicly. I really like Lando, but he needs to speak a little less and not play the victim.
“You won’t win by playing the victim. You might win some battles, but you are going to lose the war. We will see more fireworks in Brazil. F1 is getting so good right now. At some point, Lando needs to stand his ground and say, ‘Screw you, I can crash into you and it’s ok.’”
Norris is unlikely to take Montoya’s advice though. “I’ve always had the mentality to want to race fair and clean,” he said on Thursday. “I think I probably said it last weekend, I’ve been maybe too kind, whether I was attacking or defending.
“But I think I’ve always made good decisions from that side. Sometimes I’ve paid the price for not being aggressive enough, but the rest of it is not up to me. Even when you don’t realise it, there are times when you have to avoid a potential crash and maybe you don’t see it on the TV.”
