With Max Verstappen having claimed bias exists in the British F1 media and that he has the “wrong passport”, ex-F1 star Juan Pablo Montoya says he can relate.

There has been finger-pointing from the likes of Verstappen and Aston Martin-bound F1 design guru Adrian Newey when it comes to the neutrality of the British F1 press, Newey having called out Sky – the live broadcaster of F1 in the UK and Ireland since 2012 – for “nationalistic” coverage which contributed to the “demonisation” of Verstappen and Sebastian Vettel.

Montoya can ‘identify’ with Max Verstappen ‘wrong passport’ claim

Verstappen confirmed that “I basically agree 100 per cent, yes” when presented with Newey’s comments, while he also claimed he “has the wrong passport for this paddock” after criticism from the likes of F1 steward Johnny Herbert and then Sky F1 pundit Damon Hill over his driving when battling Lando Norris in Mexico, Verstappen picking up 20 seconds worth of time penalties.

And joining Newey on Verstappen’s side is former Williams and McLaren driver Juan Pablo Montoya, who pointed to the English-speaking coverage of the Qatar Grand Prix, during which he claimed that McLaren’s Lando Norris was defended and Verstappen’s Red Bull team-mate Sergio Perez attacked.

“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.”

F1 steward Herbert came under fire from Max’s father Jos Verstappen after the Mexican GP, Jos raising “conflict of interest” concerns and suggesting a couple of the stewards on the Mexican GP panel – which included Herbert – “don’t like [Max] anyway.”

And Montoya does believe that some drivers are dealt with by the FIA F1 stewards based on “reputation”.

“I do agree there’s always been inconsistency,” he said.

“If the FIA don’t like you normally what happens with a race steward is that if you are penalised for an incident, the next time you’re there, 90 per cent of the time even if you’re innocent, they’re going to penalise you because you have previous history.

“In their mind, they cannot erase what you did before. You get a reputation. Even if you already paid the penalty.

“It’s like if you’ve stolen some money and you go to jail, you leave jail, money goes missing somewhere and the next time a cop catches you, they’re going to assume you did it. That’s the deal.”

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Sky F1 pundit and commentator Martin Brundle recently defended the broadcaster’s F1 coverage, insisting that it is not leant towards the British drivers.

After Sky F1 podcast host Matt Baker put it to Brundle that: “We, as a British broadcaster, we try to tell the story of British drivers just with perhaps a bit more detail”, Brundle replied: “No, I don’t think we do.

“I don’t think there’s any… I mean, I’m a Brit. I’m a former British Formula 1 driver, and we’re broadcasting primarily to a British broadcaster. Others take our feed all the way around the world. So, do we?

“We’re nothing like… When I watch the Olympics or the World Cup or the European Cup, obviously, your commentators are fervently pro whichever country they’re from. I don’t think we do that. I like to think we’re pretty balanced. I really do.

“And actually, we get flack from pretty much everybody, because what I have learned in these 27, 28 years is that you can say 1000 positive things about somebody and one negative will get back to them and their fans get onto it, or their family and friends tell them. And I get a few cool, sideways glances sometimes.

“Nobody ever comes up to you and says, ‘Thank you very much for what you said about us.’”

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