Former F1 driver Juan Pablo Montoya believes that Mercedes could win races in the second half of the season as they catch up to Ferrari and Red Bull. Speaking in an interview with VegasInsider , Montoya, who drove for Williams and later McLaren between 2001 and 2006, reckons Mercedes might win because they have stuck with their radical car concept instead of copying their rivals. "The rumour is that Mercedes has a big, big upgrade coming for their cars. And, if that is the case, you know whats going to happen," said Montoya. "It's something that is really cool to see from Mercedes, that they stayed with their car [concept]. "Everybody looked at what Red Bull did and kind of sailed ship towards the Red Bull and the Ferrari way of thinking of the car. "Mercedes stayed with their way of doing their car, and that was very interesting."
Montoya: Red Bull can't get complacent
Despite the impressive comeback drive from Max Verstappen during the Hungarian Grand Prix from 10th on the grid to winning, Montoya thinks Red Bull should not take their pace on track for granted. "Red Bull cannot get complacent with how good they're running now and how things keep turning up their way," he added. "You look at the last race in Budapest, they were starting 10th and nobody thought they were going to win the race. "Ferrari was racing to defend Mercedes and when they realised what happened is like, 'Oh my god, we got beat again by Red Bull! How can that happen?' – they're just putting themselves in bad situations."
Ferrari haven't used fastest car to their advantage
Even though Charles Leclerc has claimed seven poles so far this season, he's only converted it to race wins on two occasions. Similarly, Carlos Sainz only has his maiden win at Silverstone to his name. Montoya believes that even though Ferrari have built one of the fastest cars this year, they are not utilising their pace on track to their advantage. "Ferrari came up with the fastest car and they haven't really used it that well. You have to say they made a lot of mistakes and everybody's wondering, 'Are they going to put it together?' And when they do is the car still going to be fast enough?" Montoya pondered. "If they understand and figure out what they need to do, and how to look at it, and strategise a little better, then they can win a lot of races. "You look at Monaco, you look the last race in Hungary, and there are so many more races that you go, ' Oh my god, they throw this one away, they threw the next one away, oh god they threw the next one away…' "It's like, they're so afraid of making decisions, in my opinion. That is what's really hurting them."
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