Ex-Williams racing driver Juan Pablo Montoya has expressed his concerns with Formula 1 being too “biased” towards British drivers.
Issues of favouritism towards drivers racing under a British nationality this season were sparked by an incident between Lando Norris and Max Verstappen at the Mexican Grand Prix.
The Dutchman was handed two 10-second time penalties for two separate incidents – the first one for pushing Norris wide in Turn 4 and then again at Turn 8 on the same lap.
In response to the outstanding penalties and Damon Hill’s critique of his driving style, Verstappen claimed that he had the “wrong passport” for the F1 paddock.
His father inferred that one of the race stewards for the Grand Prix, former British driver Johnny Herbert, was sympathetic towards “certain drivers”.
Verstappen Sr. also stated that the FIA should “take a good look at the staffing of the stewards”.
Montoya raced in the sport between 2001 to 2006 for both Williams and McLaren winning seven GPs.
He too shares the opinion of the Verstappen family that there is a bias towards British drivers and he went as far as to admit it makes it hard to watch F1.
“I get angry when I watch F1 because it is so biased towards British drivers,” he told GPblog.
“They claim to be neutral, but they are not.
“I was amused when Max said he was born with the wrong passport and that he is European.
“Imagine how hard it is to be Colombian!”
Montoya: ‘There cannot be any favouritism’ in F1
It is not the first time that the Colombian has taken issue with the sport’s apparent preferential treatment of British drivers.
In response to tech guru Adrian Newey’s comments claiming Sky Sports F1’s coverage was “nationalistic”, Montoya pointed to the coverage of the Qatar Grand Prix as an example.
“I think the right question is, whether [FIA president] Mohammed Ben Sulayem is trying to clean the house? If you’re really the body that controls the rules and does everything, there cannot be any favouritism,” Montoya told Instant Casino.
“I watched the Qatar GP in English.
“Lando made the mistake of not lifting [under yellow flags] and they, the commentators, go: ‘It’s outrageous that he gets a penalty.’
“Or if Lando makes a mistake, they say, ‘Oh, that’s very rare.’
“Look at when Checo Perez spins – looking at it from the outside you ask, he spun, but he doesn’t have any drive in the car.
“Did he really just spin, or did something fail in the car when he gassed it?
“Because there’s no reason for the car not to work after you spin.
“He didn’t hit anything but automatically the British commentators go: ‘He just spun. It’s just a lack of talent. He shouldn’t be driving.’
“When Max said that he had the ‘wrong passport’ I could identify myself with it so much.”
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