‘Petty as hell’ FIA under more fire for creating Max Verstappen drama

Former Williams driver Juan Pablo Montoya dubbed the FIA’s punishment of Max Verstappen “petty as hell”, after swearing in a press conference in Singapore.

Verstappen was ordered to carry out work of public service after describing his car as “f***ed” in an FIA press conference, with the governing body later deciding to punish the reigning World Champion for misconduct.

FIA ‘over-reacted’ in ‘petty as hell’ Max Verstappen punishment

Much has already been said about the fallout to this moment, with former Williams and McLaren driver Montoya believing the move from the FIA to be one of overreaction.

His belief, however, is that the governing body will end up reverse-ferreting on their stance eventually, given the status that Verstappen holds in the sport.

With the three-time World Champion having long insisted he is not wanting to stay in Formula 1 into his 40s like his fellow champions in Fernando Alonso and Lewis Hamilton, Montoya wonders if a time will come where he will hold talks with the FIA to potentially “call a truce” between the two – and if an intervention from Formula One Management [FOM] would follow if not, given his importance to the sport.

“Being at Red Bull has been a huge thing for Max. He can be himself and Red Bull is OK with that,” Montoya told Gambling Zone.

“The FIA over-reacted. After what happened in the press conference Max should just have been given a warning. It’s petty as hell. And why?

More on the FIA and Max Verstappen

? F1 jargon decoded: Breaking down what key Formula 1 words mean

? Revealed: The three FIA rules introduced because of Max Verstappen

“The way he managed it, I think it’s classic. At the end of day the F1 at some point is going to tell the FIA to leave him alone because they need him.

“At some point, the FIA has to go, ‘Oh, we screwed up’. But at the same time they have to go, they will feel that they need to stand by their decision as well.

“So, what do you do? Do you stand by your decision and play the long game? Or do you sit down with him and say, we’ve punished you but we’ll make it easy for you but we need to set the standard, so we don’t take the penalties away, but we’re going to come up with a solution that it’s amicable for both parties.

“For example, they could get some kids to the track as a special event and they’ll say to Max they’ll need him for 20 minutes there and then we’ll call a truce while reminding him he has to watch his language. And the problem would be solved.

“But if he becomes an ego thing and escalates, when does F1 step in and say to the FIA this is not good for the sport. If it was another driver, it probably wouldn’t be an issue, but they tried to make an issue of it. Max is outspoken.

“They say they want drivers to be nice (and not swear) so why are they happy to publicise when they’re screaming on the radio? And nobody talks about that because they know they want to build the sport and create that atmosphere. That is great. But you can’t have it both ways.”

Read next: Fresh F1 return hope for Mick Schumacher with talks held