{"id":663167,"date":"2026-05-11T04:45:15","date_gmt":"2026-05-11T04:45:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/663167\/"},"modified":"2026-05-11T04:45:15","modified_gmt":"2026-05-11T04:45:15","slug":"pablo-montoya-has-criticised-talks-of-f1-return-to-v8-engine","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/663167\/","title":{"rendered":"Pablo Montoya has criticised talks of F1 return to V8 engine"},"content":{"rendered":"

Former Formula 1<\/a> driver Juan Pablo Montoya<\/a> has pushed back against growing calls for the sport to return to V8 engines, in a fresh defence of the current regulations.<\/p>\n

The former McLaren driver, who has consistently voiced his support for the current era amid widespread criticism and differing opinions surrounding the rules, explained that he remains a fan of the regulations due to the strategic elements they have introduced, including various energy deployment and recharge modes.<\/p>\n

The 50-year-old also compared overtaking in the current generation to the previous Drag Reduction System (DRS)-dominated era, arguing that DRS often left the defending driver powerless \u2013 something he believes the current regulations have addressed.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you see the guy\u2019s going to pass you, you can get into recharge mode earlier, and then you have a little bit more extra energy for the next straight and you can fight your way,\u201d Montoya said on the BBC Chequered Flag podcast.<\/p>\n

\u201cWith the DRS, I always felt like you were a sitting duck. It\u2019s a second off. A second off is a pretty decent gap, or nine tenths. And then at the end of the straight, the guy blew by you, and they go, \u2018What an overtake!\u2019 And I go, \u2018What do you mean, what an overtake? He didn\u2019t do anything. He was just sitting there,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

Speaking further on the possibility of Formula 1 returning to V8 engines, Montoya did not hold back in criticising the idea, insisting that racing in the V8 era often felt more like a test session than a competitive race.<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople say, \u2018Oh, your time was so good,\u2019 I say, \u2018Watch a race, it\u2019s so boring. Even for us. It was sometimes like a short test session.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Talks of F1<\/a> making a return to V8 engines have particularly garnered traction, especially off the back of FIA<\/a> president Mohammed Ben Sulayem hinting at the possibility of such happening<\/a>. The words of the Emirati were further backed by several team principals, including Laurent Mekies<\/a> and Toto Wolff<\/a>, who have not held back in their support for the return of the engines.Montoya wants Verstappen sanctionedEarlier, Montoya urged F1\u2019s governing body to consider imposing a sanction on Max Verstappen <\/a>amid his criticism of the current regulations. The Colombian argued the words of the Red Bull Racing<\/a> driver have gone far beyond criticism and are now largely damaging to the sport.<\/p>\n

Montoya noted that if penalty points were added to Verstappen\u2019s racing licence, he would likely temper his criticism of the current regulations.<\/p>\n

GPblog Paddock Update<\/p>\n

Want to stay up to date with the latest events from the F1 paddock? GPblog\u2019s Paddock Update is the place to be.<\/p>\n

Follow and subscribe to our channels on Spotify and YouTube so you don\u2019t miss a scoop as the actions and reactions continue across the Formula 1 scene.<\/p>\n

Check out the latest episode of our Paddock Update here \ud83d\udc47<\/p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Former Formula 1 driver Juan Pablo Montoya has pushed back against growing calls for the sport to return…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":663168,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[573],"tags":[64,63,817,35119,837,813,816,870,14758,825,945,189983,10952,946,85,4703],"class_list":["post-663167","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-formula-1","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-f1","tag-f1-news","tag-fia","tag-formula-1","tag-formula1","tag-juan-pablo-montoya","tag-laurent-mekies","tag-max-verstappen","tag-mercedes","tag-mercedes-amg-f1-team","tag-mohammed-ben-sulayem","tag-red-bull-racing","tag-sports","tag-toto-wolff"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/663167","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=663167"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/663167\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/663168"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=663167"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=663167"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=663167"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}