Montoya names his top contender for Belgian GP win

Seven-time Grand Prix winner Juan-Pablo Montoya has offered his predictions for this weekend's Belgian GP and the back half of the 2022 season.

Formula 1 teams will resume their campaign at Spa-Francorchamps, the first of the nine remaining races in the championship.

Max Verstappen heads into his second home race with a commanding 80-point led in the Drivers' standings, but Montoya is putting his money on Charles Leclerc, the Dutchman's closest rival, for an outright win in the Ardennes.

"My money would be on Charles," the Columbian said in an interview with VegasInsider.

"I am normally a big Max guy to win all these races, but I think that track might be a Ferrari track. It is a strong track, it is a fast track, you know, they have a lot of pace.

"There are tracks like, I think, Budapest. Budapest is very difficult, very technical, and is very hard to get a lap time out of you.

"Whereas with Spa, it just flows a lot easier, the lap time comes a lot easier. So I think Checo [Perez] is going to be right there, I think Max is going to be right there.

"But if I would put a bet today, my bet today would probably be on Charles with the Ferrari."

• Read also: Alesi doubts wins await Mercedes in second half of 2022

Montoya acknowledged Ferrari's missteps this season and the massive points deficit they have caused. But the former Williams and McLaren driver believes the Scuderia still has the fastest car in the field, although it hasn't fully exploited its advantage.

"Ferrari came up with the fastest car and they haven't really used it that well," said the 46-year-old Colombian.

"You have to say they made a lot of mistakes and everybody's wondering, 'Are they going to put it together?' And when they do is the car still going to be fast enough?

"If they understand and figure out what they need to do, and how to look at it, and strategise a little better, then they can win a lot of races.

"You look at Monaco, you look the last race in Hungary, and there are so many more races that you go, 'Oh my god, they throw this one away, they threw the next one away, oh god they threw the next one away…'

"It's like, they're so afraid of making decisions, in my opinion. That is what's really hurting them."

Looking towards the back half of the season, Montoya believes Mercedes - which stuck with its radical car concept - could put itself back in the mix for race wins with the help of a rumored upcoming upgrade.

"The rumour is that Mercedes has a big, big upgrade coming for their cars," said Montoya. "And, if that is the case, you know whats going to happen.

"It's something that is really cool to see from Mercedes, that they stayed with their car [concept].

"Everybody looked at what Red Bull did and kind of sailed ship towards the Red Bull and the Ferrari way of thinking of the car.

"Mercedes stayed with their way of doing their car, and that was very interesting."

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