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Motorsport

Juan Pablo Montoya spots one thing in Arvid Lindblad’s Max Verstappen fight that surprised him

Arvid Lindblad Juan Pablo Montoya Max Verstappen F1 Racing Bulls Red Bull

Former Formula 1 driver Juan Pablo Montoya praised Racing Bulls driver Arvid Lindblad after the Briton earned points on his debut in the championship.

After starting from ninth on the grid, Lindblad finished eighth, earning four points.

While Montoya applauded Lindblad's aggression and clean weekend, he pointed to a battle with Red Bull's Max Verstappen that saw Lindblad defend for a couple of laps before the Dutchman overtook him, a defence that Montoya believed was more aggressive than he had been with the other drivers.

"He had such a clean weekend," the Colombian driver told F1 TV. "The whole weekend, he was aggressive. I'll be honest with you, the only thing I thought, he was so aggressive with Max and he was fine, but then if you're going to be that aggressive with Max, you better be that aggressive with everybody else as well. And he wasn't. And I was kind of surprised."

He added after co-host Betty Glover likened Lindblad to him on his debut: "That's awesome. But then when somebody that is not in a Red Bull livery car comes by, you should do the same."

When asked if he sees the similarities between himself and the Briton, Montoya added, laughing: "I'm way more aggressive. No, it was good. He did an amazing job."

While speaking to Sky Sports F1 after the race, Lindblad explained that he was "pretty speechless" with his performance and that he believed he had demonstrated what he is there to do.

Arvid Lindblad, Racing Bulls (Photo by: Lars Baron / Getty Images)

"I'm pretty speechless to be honest. It was a pretty nuts race," he said.

"Coming into the weekend, points were not the expectation. I had hopes after yesterday, but I'm extremely happy, I'm extremely grateful to everyone from the team, from RBPT and Ford, for giving me the package to fight. But to be honest, I think saying points on debut doesn't really summarise the race.

"Being P3 at one point on lap one was a lot more than I expected. I think I showed people a bit of what I'm here to do."

When asked specifically about his defence on Verstappen, he added: "In the end, I've been working my whole life to get to Formula 1, and this weekend's been a very special moment for me. And I have a lot of respect for the senior guys in the sport who've done an amazing job, but I'm not also going to roll over and give them the place. I'm here to fight.

"When I'm in the car, I'm a ruthless competitor, and I'm going to take every inch that I can get, and I think I showed that on lap one."