Formula 1 race-winner Juan Pablo Montoya is not impressed with the criticism Max Verstappen has levelled at the sport’s latest regulations.

“You’ve got to respect the sport,” Montoya told the BBC. “I’m okay [with] you not liking the regulations, but the way you were speaking about what you’re living off and your own sport, you should be, there should be consequences for that.”

Verstappen is not alone among drivers in slating F1’s latest power units. But he has been one of the most vociferous critics so far – prompting Montoya to suggest F1 should “park him” if he doesn’t fall into line.

“Add seven, eight [penalty] points to the licence, [so] that whatever you do after you’re going to be parked. And I guarantee you all the messages would be different. I’m not saying ‘don’t say that you don’t like the regulations’ because if you don’t like it you have the complete right to an opinion.”

Montoya says F1 should draw a line between legitimate criticism of the series and comments which bring the championship into disrepute.

“It’s okay to be outspoken,” he said. “I’m not saying don’t be outspoken, but don’t come and call an F1 car a Mario Kart. Because you say, ‘oh, I feel like a boost’, [but] when the rear wing was opening [when F1 used DRS] and you were getting 30[kph] or 20 miles an hour, was that not fake?”

Would clamping down on drivers’ criticism work? Would it do more harm than good?

For

This is not an unprecedented idea. Other motor racing championships already impose limits on what competitors are allowed to discuss. The World Endurance Championship, for example, has regulations which forbid discussion of its Balance of Performance system by team members.

F1 drivers benefit from the popularity of the sport but they have the power to damage it through critical comments. While it should be in their interest not to knock it too hard, not all of them see it that way, so it’s logical for F1 to impose a reasonable limit on their expression.

Against

F1 shouldn’t censor drivers as a matter of principle. No one is better placed than they are to understand the limitations of the cars. Some of their concerns over the 2026 rules relate to safety and trying to silence them on that issue would be irresponsible.

Trying to limit drivers’ criticism in this way would reflect extremely poorly on F1. To take Montoya’s example, if Verstappen were to be banned from appearing at a race because of his criticism, it would disappoint the large proportion of the crowd which buys tickets to see him.

I say

The FIA reinforced its rules preventing drivers from swearing in press conferences two years ago. But censoring the content of what drivers say is a completely different matter to obliging them to avoid profanity.

This would be a disastrous over-reach by F1. It would justifiably be seen as a heavy-handed attempt to censor criticism of a deeply flawed set of regulations which the FIA is hurriedly revising as far as it can.

Montoya’s comments demonstrate that however badly F1 may mess up its rules, someone can always think up a way of making them even worse.

You say

Should F1 drivers face sporting penalties for excessively criticising the sport? Cast your vote below and have your say in the comments.

Do you agree drivers should receive sporting penalties for criticising Formula 1’s rules?

  • No opinion (0%)
  • Strongly disagree (93%)
  • Slightly disagree (4%)
  • Neither agree nor disagree (1%)
  • Slightly agree (1%)
  • Strongly agree (1%)

Total Voters: 138

 Loading …

A RaceFans account is required in order to vote. If you do not have one, register an account here or read more about registering here. When this poll is closed the result will be displayed instead of the voting form.

Debates and polls

Browse all debates and polls

Published by

Keith Collantine

Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 – when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring journalist, Keith began running the site full-time in 2010, achieving a long-held ambition to dedicate his full attention to his passion for motor racing. View all posts by Keith Collantine