Former McLaren driver sides with Max Verstappen on 'British-bias' allegations against the media

Former McLaren driver Juan Pablo Montoya mentioned that he agreed with Max Verstappen's claims of "British bias" in the media. The Red Bull driver has often spoken about facing the wrath of the media, given their allegiances to British drivers.

The three-time world champion has faced severe criticism for his controversial maneuvers on the track and his straightforward approach off the track.

In his interview with InstantCasino, Montoya spoke about facing a similar scenario as Verstappen during his time in the sport from 2001 to 2006. He pointed to the influence of German media as well. He said, via PlanetF1:

"He was alluding to the fact that the British media especially but also the German media controls the sport and how it is portrayed in the media. For me it was difficult. When you have mainstream media from those two countries, it makes it hard. Everything that we read is biased against Max."

"If you read what the Dutch press says, it will be a very different story. They’d probably be saying Lando is a wuss and should have been more aggressive. We never hear the other side of the story because we don’t read the Dutch media. For the world, the Dutch media is irrelevant," he said.

Max Verstappen gives his take on the British-dominated media in F1

Red Bull driver Max Verstappen stated that most of the media in the sport were British and they were favoring their national drivers at the "back of their minds". He told Daily Mail:

"80 to 85 percent of the press in F1 is English, so you have quite a dominant force with that. In the back of their minds, most would prefer their national driver to do well or in the case of an incident naturally pick the side of their countryman. Ex-drivers, most of them are British, so it’s a bit of a one-sided affair.”

Verstappen emphasized that he wasn't affected by the criticism laid on him by the media as he was focused on being with his "team and the people who are involved with my success – they’re who I listen to and speak to judge my performances."

The Dutch driver was also aware that "everyone can have their opinion. That’s fine. That’s not going to define how I live my life off track or how I behave on it.”

Max Verstappen's claims of British bias in the media were backed by former Red Bull CTO and aero wizard Adrian Newey, who on the High-Performance podcast, called Sky's coverage as "nationalistic" and pointed out that Sebastian Vettel too faced the same level of scrutiny.