Montoya says Verstappen's 360 spin was luck!

TL;DR

Juan Pablo Montoya dismissed Verstappen's 360 spin recovery as luck, but experts argue it's a proven repeatable skill requiring precise brake-and-throttle timing.

Key Points

• 1.Verstappen's 360 spin at Miami Turn 2 was a controlled recovery, not luck. After going sideways behind Leclerc, Max released the brake and hit the throttle at exactly the right moment — Jolyon Palmer noted the margin for getting the car straight is less than 10%, citing similar spins at Silverstone and Germany where Max also recovered.
• 2.Montoya flatly called the spin 'pure luck' on the F1 TV post-race show. When Palmer pushed back with specific examples of Verstappen doing this repeatedly, Montoya simply said 'yeah, okay,' suggesting he couldn't defend his position but wasn't backing down.
• 3.Verstappen started P2 in Miami but finished P5 after the spin dropped him 8 places. He recovered through the field, pitted under a safety car caused by a Lawson-Gasly crash, but was stuck on hard tires for 51 laps as Antonelli, Norris, Leclerc, Piastri, and Russell passed on fresher rubber — he still won Driver of the Day.
• 4.Montoya has a pattern of bad-faith criticism toward Verstappen and Red Bull. He previously said Max should get penalty points for comments about F1 regulations and suggested he should quit; the host theorizes this stems from a 2001 crash where Yos Verstappen's Arrows took out race-leader Montoya in just his third F1 race.
• 5.A second theory for Montoya's Red Bull grudge involves his son Sebastian. Sebastian Montoya joined the Red Bull Junior program in 2022 but was dropped; Juan Pablo has since criticized Red Bull's junior program for 'ruining young drivers,' while Sebastian currently sits P16 in the F2 standings.