Former F1 driver Juan Pablo Montoya believes Ferrari are handing Red Bull victories, more so than Red Bull are winning on merit. Speaking in an interview with VegasInsider , the Colombian, who drove for Williams and then McLaren between 2001 and 2006 before moving to the NASCAR series in America, claimed he cannot comprehend how many mistakes the Scuderia have made during the opening nine races. "As a team, they're not executing as good as they need to be. That's what it really comes to," he said. "You can say that half of the wins of Red Bull have been given away by Ferrari, not won by Red Bull. "While Red Bull have won some races by performance but you're watching it and you go: 'How, really?' "And you can see it coming. I don't know, they've (Ferrari) got such a fast car and they're afraid of screwing up."
Montoya: When you start making mistakes, the pressure comes
Montoya has stated that Red Bull have a different philosophy than their rivals at Ferrari, who are under pressure to perform and get back to winning World Championships. It is that pressure, he says, that leads to their mistakes. "Everybody in Ferrari is in hot water and nobody wants to make a mistake and nobody wants to get blamed, and then everybody starts putting pressure," Montoya continued. "When you start making mistakes, the pressure comes. Even for the mechanics, the guys making mistakes, they're like, 'I don't wanna screw up'. "They're trying so hard to be quicker, it's like they're not getting the nut completely off. Why are the wheels getting stuck? Why are the wheels are not going on smooth? "They're trying so hard to win that it's like: 'My god, here we go again.'"
Ferrari "keep making bad calls" at Grand Prix weekends
Charles Leclerc has proven just how fast the Ferrari really is – but still only has two wins to his credit this season while Max Verstappen has six, something Montoya has put down to a "lot of luck". "They keep making bad calls. It's tough, because Red Bull are very aggressive with their strategy," Montoya continued. "In a way, you can say Red Bull have a lot of luck because they get the Safety Cars at the right time. Things always go their way. "Monaco with Checo (Perez): Ferrari had a four-second lead when they called Charles in and he lost four seconds between the in-lap and the pit-stop. He came up behind and it was like: 'How did that happen?' "Did somebody not tell them we really need to go, 'We need to maximise this'? I'm sure somebody went and told the crew, 'We really need a fast stop here, because it's getting really close'. "There's no need to do that. Let them do their job, they know what they need to do. Just have clean pit-stops. "You really need to go back to basics, do easy pit-stops, call the race. Don't be afraid of making mistakes. That's number one. A lot of the mistakes they've made is for not making the calls."
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