{"id":664188,"date":"2026-05-12T09:52:09","date_gmt":"2026-05-12T09:52:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/664188\/"},"modified":"2026-05-12T09:52:09","modified_gmt":"2026-05-12T09:52:09","slug":"max-verstappen-issued-praise-by-f1-legend-for-selfish-race-craft","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/664188\/","title":{"rendered":"Max Verstappen issued praise by F1 legend for &#8216;selfish&#8217; race craft"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Former <a href=\"https:\/\/www.motorsportweek.com\/series\/single-seater\/formula-1\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Formula 1<\/a> star Juan Pablo Montoya has labelled Max Verstappen as \u2018selfish\u2019 for his racecraft during combat.<\/p>\n<p>Verstappen remains one of F1\u2019s most controversial figures when overtaking rivals on track, the four-time World Champion known for his robust battling.<\/p>\n<p>Miami proved to be no different, with the Dutchman engaged in a tight battle with Carlos Sainz\u2019s Williams, Sainz unhappy with Verstappen\u2019s racecraft.<\/p>\n<p>Montoya, known for his straight-talking nature, defended Verstappen\u2019s on-track strategy, believing it was the right one. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cI would wake up and figure out how I could beat the hell out of everybody, you\u2019ve got to be selfish,\u201d Montoya said on the BBC Chequered Flag podcast with Damon Hill.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou know, for me, it\u2019s shocking. You look at them [the F1 drivers], they all go play padel together, and they\u2019re really good friends and go for dinner together.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBut that\u2019s why Max is good, because he doesn\u2019t play along.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Montoya also dismissed suggestions that friendships on the grid will affect Verstappen\u2019s racecraft, incredulous at the suggestion. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cSo you\u2019re going to tell me when Max cuts [gets cut up by Gabriel Bortoleto], he\u2019s going to go, \u2018I\u2019m not going to dive bomb and put you in the wall like I do everybody else\u2019. Come on!\u201d<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"577\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Max-Verstappen-F1-Miami-GP-6-1024x577.webp.webp\" alt=\"Max Verstappen has come under fire from other drivers for his race-craft\" class=\"wp-image-245545\"  \/>Max Verstappen has come under fire from other drivers for his race-craft<\/p>\n<p>Montoya reveals brutality of teammate mindset <\/p>\n<p>Montoya then turned on George Russell, believing that teammate Kimi Antonelli would go all out to beat the Briton in Canada, a track Russell conceded was not one of his best. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cI did F1TV, and they were saying, \u2018George knows this [Miami] is not a great place for him. Canada is the best place for him\u2019.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIf I\u2019m Kimi, I\u2019m going out for blood. Oh my God, if I\u2019m going out for blood.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe way, for example, for me, when I had Ralf [Schumacher] as a teammate. I knew how much going well in Germany meant for him.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSo if we beat him in Germany. Even if it was by a thousandth of a second, it was gold, baby.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Hill then commented on mind games, stating that \u201cit\u2019s in the mind\u201d Montoya then stating: \u201cIt\u2019s money. It\u2019s just so good. Honestly, it\u2019s like taking that little knife and twisting it in there.\u201d<\/p>\n<p> Montoya\u2019s take on Verstappen\u2019s mindset showcases a different view of the Dutchman\u2019s on-track moves, and the brutality of the teammate relationship in F1. <\/p>\n<p>READ MORE: <a href=\"https:\/\/racingnews365.com\/max-verstappen-handed-selfish-edge-in-shocking-f1-driver-verdict\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">F1 urged to keep of hold of \u2018important\u2019 Max Verstappen by ex-Red Bull winner<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Former Formula 1 star Juan Pablo Montoya has labelled Max Verstappen as \u2018selfish\u2019 for his racecraft during combat.&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":664189,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[441],"tags":[49,48,578,576,577,1885,239335,245253,10548,82],"class_list":["post-664188","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-formula-1","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-f1","tag-formula-1","tag-formula1","tag-max-verstappen","tag-miamigp","tag-montoya","tag-redbull","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/664188","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=664188"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/664188\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/664189"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=664188"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=664188"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=664188"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}