- Max Verstappen tells Telegraaf that Montoya talks so much nonsense in the F1 paddock.
- Montoya wants penalty points added to licences of drivers who publicly criticise the sport.
- The feud escalated after Verstappen called F1’s 2026 racing format “playing Mario Kart.”
Max Verstappen has publicly hit back at Juan Pablo Montoya after the former Formula 1 driver spent weeks directing pointed criticism at the four-time world champion.
Speaking to Dutch outlet Telegraaf, Verstappen questioned both Montoya’s commentary and his very presence in the F1 paddock.
The dispute has its roots in the turbulent opening months of the 2026 season, which has been dominated by widespread driver discontent over the sport’s new regulations.
What began as a debate about rulebook changes has since become one of the more personal public disputes the sport has seen in recent years.
Verstappen made clear he has little patience for Montoya’s conduct, and directed his frustration not only at the Colombian but at F1 management for continuing to give him a platform.
A season already defined by controversy
Formula 1 introduced sweeping changes for 2026, bringing in new power units that draw roughly 50% of their output from electrical battery power.
This was accompanied by active aerodynamic systems called Straight Mode and Overtake Mode. The changes unsettled drivers across the grid and provoked a sharp reaction.
Verstappen became the loudest critic. He told reporters the racing felt like “playing Mario Kart” and said the new format was “not fun at all.”
“You are boosting past, then you run out of battery the next straight, they boost past you again,” he said. “For me, it’s just a joke.”
Those comments made headlines globally and set the stage for the confrontation to come.
Montoya turns up the heat
Montoya took aim at the criticism on the BBC’s Chequered Flag podcast, speaking alongside co-host Harry Benjamin and 1996 world champion Damon Hill.
Without initially naming Verstappen, he argued that drivers who speak disparagingly about the sport should face formal consequences.
“You’ve got to respect the sport,” Montoya said. “I’m OK with you not liking the regulations, but the way you were speaking about what you’re living off and your own sport, you should be… There should be consequences for that.”
When Hill pressed him on what he meant, Montoya was blunt. “Park him. Add seven points to the licence, eight points to the licence,” he said.
Under current FIA rules, a driver who accumulates 12 penalty points on their super licence within a 12-month period receives an automatic race ban.
Montoya also questioned Verstappen’s performance at the Miami Grand Prix, where the Red Bull driver spun 360 degrees on the opening lap, recovered to finish fifth, then received a five-second penalty for crossing the white line at the pit exit during a safety car period.
Montoya credited luck rather than skill for recovering from the spin and was dismissive of the pit lane incident, too.
“It wasn’t even during the green flag, when you’re supposed to give everything,” he said. “He should have driven toward the line, but he cut it off; he sent it in too early.”
Verstappen fires back and questions Montoya’s place in the paddock
Verstappen did not let the criticism pass. Speaking to Telegraaf, he took a direct swipe at both Montoya’s comments and his presence in the paddock.
“I don’t know what his problem is,” Verstappen said, “I also have very little patience with someone who talks so much nonsense. I just don’t understand why types like that get paid by F1 management, simply because he sometimes works for them.”
He also suggested Montoya’s provocative commentary is driven by a need for relevance rather than genuine analysis.
“Surely you don’t want someone like that in the paddock who spouts so much rubbish?” Verstappen said. “I think it’s a case of: ‘I say something different from everyone else, so I’m relevant.’ It doesn’t bother me that much; it’s his problem. I live my life and won’t let it influence me.”
Old wounds beneath the surface
Some observers have pointed to a longer history between Montoya and Helmut Marko, the former Motorsport advisor at the Red Bull camp, as possible background to the dispute.
Montoya raced in the F3000 series for Marko’s RSM Marko outfit in 1997. Marko has reportedly held a grievance ever since, believing Montoya cost himself the championship at Mugello.
Montoya acknowledged the tension openly. “He is angry with me to this day,” he said. “He thinks I deliberately let the championship slip away on the penultimate lap at Mugello.”
Marko, for his part, told the German newspaper Die Zeit that Montoya “didn’t make the most of his abilities,” and reportedly described him elsewhere in far blunter terms.
Whether that history sharpened Montoya’s recent commentary on Verstappen is difficult to say with certainty. The Columbian has insisted he is unbothered by the reaction.
According to RacingNews365, on his own MontoyAS podcast, he said: “You say that people hit me hard because of my comments about Max. Honestly, I don’t even see it, and I don’t care that much.”
With both men now firmly on the record and neither showing any sign of stepping back, the dispute shows little sign of cooling.
