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Montoya on 'lucky' Verstappen: He had a terrible day

Montoya on 'lucky' Verstappen: "He had a terrible day"

29-09-2021 12:11 Last update: 12:36
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GPblog.com

That Formula 1 can be tough and have no mercy was made clear in the final stage of the Russian Grand Prix. Where his teammate Daniel Ricciardo won the race prior to Sochi in Monza and Lando Norris had to settle for second place, the young Briton seemed to be heading for his first Grand Prix victory in Russia. Until the Russian skies broke and Norris saw his win slip through his fingers.

Norris can be happy with his performance

Unlike his competitors, Norris chose to wait too long to change to rain tyres, and was unable to keep his McLaren on the track during the final laps. The discussion afterwards was therefore mainly about: should Norris have listened to his team and come in earlier, or was it understandable that with only a few laps left in the race he didn't want to throw away his victory by making a pit stop?

Former driver Juan Pablo Montoya understands the pain Norris feels after the Russian Grand Prix: "I know how disappointed he is. But if you look at the bigger picture, he led a Grand Prix. Yes, you didn't win, but you were on the podium, you led most of a Grand Prix, you made no mistakes. In hindsight, 90 percent of the field would be happy with what Lando accomplished," said the Colombian at Motorsport.tv.

Lottery

According to Montoya, the late rain in Sochi was a bit of a lottery, so he understands the choice Norris made at that point in the race: "It could easily have gone the other way. Just look at Verstappen. He was on P7 and had a terrible day, and suddenly he is in second place and scores more points than expected."