Juan Pablo Montoya exclusive: Jackpot City speaks to the ex-Williams driver about how this Championship is hotting up and about seasons to come.

Speaking exclusively to Jackpot City Casino, Formula 1 legend Juan Pablo Montoya believes that Lando Norris didn’t deserve to finish behind Oscar Piastri in Monza - he was not against the driver swap ordered by McLaren.

Reacting to the Tifosi chanting Max Verstappen’s name on the podium, Montoya has predicted that we’ll see the four-time World Drivers’ Champion driving for Ferrari later on in his career.

The Colombian thinks, no matter what, we’ll see former IndyCar driver Colton Herta drive in Formula 1 by 2027.

Read the full interview below:

What did you think of those team orders for Piastri and Norris? You can't manufacture something, can you? Top-level sport is all about risk and mistakes.

JPM: “Put it the other way around. Norris goes, ‘No, I don't care that Piastri is behind. I'm leading and I want to pit first because I don't want to get undercut.’

“Then Norris gets an amazing stop, and Oscar finishes fourth because they had a bad stop behind Leclerc. And now they lose more points and Lando gains.

“Then after the race, Oscar is going to go, ‘Knowing that Leclerc was coming on the tyres, why didn't you stop me before to control that, knowing that I wasn't going to gain the position.’

“For me, if Norris did something stupid like miss the pit box, he doesn't deserve it.

“But he came in right, he was on the marks, he stopped the car well, and it was a mechanic that made a mistake.”

But isn't that part of sport? There are so many elements that contribute to winning and losing.

JPM: “I think McLaren don’t want to be part of the drivers' Championship. It's like they’re saying to Lando and Oscar, ‘That's your problem. We don't want to have a bias here.’

“And that's why I think that they were very clear to Lando when they told Lando on the radio.

“‘We're not looking for undercut. So don't worry about it.’

“To be honest with you, Oscar was never on pace with Lando last weekend. Personally, I don’t think he was as quick. And Oscar could have been way smarter about letting him pass.

“If Oscar let him buy before the second chicane, if Oscar had let him buy out of Ascari into Parabolica, then he's right behind him and he can recharge the batteries, get right behind him and get the DRS and get him back.

“Why didn’t he? Was Oscar too angry with the team that they were giving the team order, and he didn't even bother?”

How long can this ‘truce’ between Piastri and Norris last? It was only three points after all.

JPM: “It wasn’t much. But if Piastri shunts in the next race and Landa wins, those three points might become very significant at the end of the year.

“The other question is, would Max have given the position back? Would Lewis, would Michael have, would Fernando, have given the position back. You know the answer. No.

“They would have told the team exactly what Oscar basically said: ‘Bullshit, we agreed that pit stops were part of racing. You guys messed up. It's on you.’

“He could have argued that, and the team would have had to accept it.

“The problem with that is that then you create enemies within the team that you don't need, especially with Oscar trying to win a championship.

“Taking the three points hit for Oscar, especially with his personality and the position he's in at McLaren, was the smarter decision.”

Do you sense that McLaren favour Norris?

JPM: “Let's pretend I agree that McLaren favour Norris. I think they're falling in love right now with Oscar's maturity, how well executed he is, but they've grown Lando over the years and Lando is their little project.

“We have heard before from Zak that we have had Lewis's time, we have had Michael's time, and now it's going to be Lando's time. You never heard about it being Oscar's time.

“Lando did a mega job in Monza because he had done a pretty average job in qualifying.

“His first lap of Q3 was slower than his P3 time. You can't go into Q3 and run slower than your practice time. He then stepped up and did his job which was really good to see.

“Also, he had a really good start and he dive bombed Max, something that he hadn't done before.

“I took my hat off to him for that. He really needed that. I think that was a big confidence boost for him.”

Max seemed very emotional at Monza, genuinely so. And how big a win was that for him after all the upheaval at Red Bull over the past sort of 12 months or so?

JPM: “He was excited because he went against the engineers on what he wanted on the car and the changes he wanted on the car.

“And you can hear him after qualifying when he told the guys, ‘You see, it wasn't as bad!’

“Then he went on to win the race. It's pretty cool.

“The good thing with Max running better is that that gap against McLean might be smaller at some of the tracks.

“Now, if Max is in between them in three weekends, if Lando wins three times and if Max can get into second, you take 30 points away. You're taking big chunks out of McLaren.

“There's no way Max can win the title, but he can influence who wins the championship.

“It was decent from Max not to get involved with Lando in turn one because he could have wrecked Lando. And he was very clean. It was good not to get involved. I think that was a classy move from him.”

Do you sense that things are settling down at Red Bull after all the craziness of Horner? Is there a new culture emerging there?

JPM: “I think this could be the calm before the storm.

“Next year is going to be the first car not designed by Adrian Newey.

“You don't have the Honda, you have a different power unit, your own power unit. It could be quite good. It could surprise everybody.

“But at the same time, it could create a lot of turmoil inside the team when things are not progressing the way they need to. Especially if Red Bull Austria is more involved.

“If you have non-racing people making decisions, it is even harder.

“Sometimes when non-racing people get involved, they think an F1 team is like a normal company that you can just flip around, and things are going to work.

“It doesn't work that way. It's going to be interesting. They have a lot of experience. They have a lot of really good people.

“But for me, what would be interesting is if they struggle at the beginning of the year and Max decides to leave and then they turn it around. That could be a twist

“They have lost a whole lot of leadership in so many different areas. The problem with those changes is it takes a couple of years for them to be effective.

“All the existing processes would still be in place but the new people, as they come in, start putting in new implementations. And things start flowing differently. And next season is going to be a little different and a little faster because you're changing the rules completely. All your philosophies go into a trash can.

“You want the car to behave in a certain way, but the size of the car is different, the weight of the car is different, the power unit is different, everything is different. And I think that's where it can get quite kind of tricky and that's hopefully where Austria doesn't fully get involved.

“They have taken a bunch of people from Mercedes, from Ferrari and have really good personnel working on the engine programme. They might surprise everybody. But even if they think they're very good, once you put it in the car, you're going to have issues. Blending everything together is going to take time. So hopefully everybody's patient and if they are patient enough, they'll have a pretty good car.

“The good thing for me is that Newey was there a long time and he had really good people underneath him who learned a lot from him. So, whether you like it or not, Newey will still have a lot of influence on how they see the car and how it is.”

The Tifosi were chanting Max’s name at Monza? How much would they love to have Max in the red car?

JPM: “I think Max will drive the red car but probably five or six years down the line. I think at some stage he'll have a chance, but not yet. I think he'll probably move. I'll be surprised if he doesn't move. Unless of course Red Bull does an amazing job.

“I think Max has matured and shown more maturity this year and we see a calmer Max. You don't hear the outbursts as much. I don't know if that’s because he's preparing psychologically to be somewhere else. Who knows?

“The obvious next move that you'll see at some point will be to Mercedes. But then Ferrari. That's what I think. But if Red Bull starts next year and it's a disaster, Max might jump ship really early. And you'll never know if it was the right decision for him because with the new rules and everybody figuring it out, you might see other teams making huge steps.

“What's really cool about next year is that you're adding the Audi power unit, you have the Ford power unit. The Honda’s going to be in one car, the Audi's going to be in one car, the Ford is going to be in the two Red Bull cars, I would assume. It could be very competitive.”

What do you read into where Ferrari now are at the moment?

JPM: “They're coming, they've got a lot better. I spoke to somebody earlier in the year at Ferrari who said, ‘Why would we run a lot better this year if nothing has changed?’ I think that Mattia Binotto is taking a ton of people from Ferrari to Audi including three or four key personnel.

“It means it's going to destabilize Ferrari even more. Everybody's taking people from everywhere by offering salaries that can be double what they are earning and maybe of five years deals.

“How can anyone turn that down? It's really hard. The loyalty thing is really hard. If you're doing a really good job, a team will really want you. But if you were not,  they would have no problem getting rid of you.”

Why aren't Mercedes giving George Russell a contract of any sort at the moment?

“I would bet money that something's signed already and it just hasn't been announced. But if for some reason it hasn’t, it would be an issue with either the length of the contract or the value of the contract. If I was George at this point, I’d be thinking, ‘They're talking about bringing Max in. I want to make sure I have a long enough contract. You're not going to extend me for just a year. If so f**k you.’”

So where does that leave Antonelli then? I think he finished ninth in Monza. Antonelli is Toto's project, like Lando is McLaren's project.

JPM: “Antonelli has a lot of talent. And he is underdelivering and he is over pressured. A lot of pressure doesn't come from the team, it comes from himself. I think Antonelli needs somebody next to him to put some sense into him. It's like, ‘Dude, there's no drama.’

“It needs to be somebody that doesn't have any Mercedes influence. It should be somebody that can really speak his mind and something that could create a little bubble around Antonelli. Somebody where Antonelli could put a shoulder and cry and scream and vent.”

One youngster who is doing well is Isack Hadjar. He's done pretty well hasn't he this year?

JPM: “I think he's done an amazing job and he's delivering really well. The million-dollar question is how good are the Racing Bulls? If it was Max driving the car, for example. The problem is Antonelli is being judged in comparison with George. And they rate George really highly.

“But who is Hadjar up against? Liam Lawson. And he's beating Lawson and looks really good and he's scoring points. So the question is if you had a guy like Max or a guy like George driving that Racing Bull car, would that car be on the podium? For Hadjar hats off though. The guy has done a really good job.

“Bortoleto's done a really good job too. But there's no magic there. The car is getting better. They’ve made steps on the car. He's getting comfortable. He's learning the car.

“What you're seeing from Hadjar and Bortoleto, is what we expected to see from Kimi. We saw a little bit of light earlier in the year, when they went to Canada and he got on the podium for the team. But his teammate won! So, he's still behind George.”

Out of Hadjar and Bortoletto, who's impressed you more?

JPM: “Hadjar has a more consistent base. But Bortoleto can really shine. And when Bortoleto shines, he really shines. Where Hadjar is just there or thereabouts, that nagging thing that he is always there. That’s good too. Kimi can’t hide behind his age.”

Colton Herta is joining Cadillac. Has he got what it takes? He's coming from IndyCar where you obviously have great experience. How easy is it to translate or transfer?

JPM: “Testing is going to be hard but Herta can do it. It’s been announced that the plan is for him to race Formula 2 next year.

“It’s great for F2, but my God, what a risk.I understand why they're doing it, to learn the tracks, to learn the Pirelli tyres, to understand how European racing goes. From the outside that all makes sense.

“I would assume he has a ton of guarantees in case it doesn't work. He's got enough talent to be competitive and to do a good job. But I think he's got a huge uphill battle. He's going to do a million miles of testing. And I think that will help. But it’s a big jump.

“I would assume if they're really considering F2 next year, he's probably running somewhere already. You would have to. You would have to because two months from now, month and a half from now, this is going to be cold.

“On one side of me goes hats off to Colton for doing that. On the other I’m asking myself, ‘Why would he do that?’

“He’s the highest-paid IndyCar driver with a team and a sponsor that loves him. I know he wants to try F1, but oh my god!

“If I was a betting person I would say in 2027, he's in F1 no matter what happens in F2. That would be my reasoning for him to do this.”

So where would that leave Perez and Bottas? Who will make way then? And what do you think of them as a pairing?

JPM: “For the first year, it makes sense. They don't crash every week, they are guys that are experienced. But then they need to look at somebody young that will come and bring the team forward.

“Is Colton the guy? I don’t know. I like Colton and I think he's very good, but is he the guy for this? If he's the guy for the job, I'm not sure. But if he comes in and he kicks everybody's ass, man great for him”

Lance Stroll was 18th last weekend. Can Aston Martin keep going with him? What's going to happen at Aston Martin? They've invested so much elsewhere. Or is Alonso going to go to Alpine?

JPM: “Alonso's not going to go anywhere. The only way Alonso would have to go to Alpine was if Max was going there.

“I think next year, if Red Bull doesn't work, Max will choose between Aston Martin and Mercedes, whoever's more competitive. Realistically, I think the Aston makes a lot more sense.

“It’s familiar territory.”

So where does that leave Lance in the whole thing then? You know you've got your father who's the boss.

JPM: “The father at the end of the day wants to see his kid succeed and win races and have a shot at a championship. I think if they have a winning car next year, and Lance wins a few races, he might turn around and say, ‘I'm happy with this’ and call it a day.

“There's no way Lance is going to call it quits before having a new car. I would say Lance will be there for two more years on this.”

Lawrence has put all the pieces of the jigsaw together. Can they produce a championship-winning team, or a more competitive team?

JPM: “Yes. The question is, is it going to be in year one or year two?

“There are so many changes in F1 in 2026 it’s really hard to predict who's going to be good next year. And even if Aston Martin struggles next year, in year two they can flip the grid around. And by year two they get it together and win everything.”

Can you see the whole team coming back together with Christian Horner as team principal?

JPM: “Horner would be a really good addition to that team. The experience that Christian has managing teams, whether people like him or not or judge him, His Success rate managing that Red Bull team cannot be overstated. You can't say, it was totally Adrian you still have got to operate the team.

“There's so many more things going on you need to have a figurehead there to really shine. That's really important. I think it'd be really cool if he did join. If they get the whole band together, they're going to win everything. I do believe Aston is going to be the team in two years from now that is going to be winning everything.”

Azerbaijan, what are your thoughts on who's going to shine, who's it going to suit?

JPM: “I would normally say Red Bull is going to suck, but they're getting better. It might not suit their car. In Monza you need traction and slow-speed grip, and they had it. So, they'll be competitive. I think McLaren is going to be decent again.

“It’s going to be a close weekend again because they're long straights and they're low down force.”