Former Formula One racer Juan Pablo Montoya has said he’s keen to come and watch the TT after admitting the event looks ‘f*****g insane’.

Asked whether he would like to attend the iconic events of world motorsport, the Colombian, who made 94 starts for Williams and McLaren between 2001 and 2006, said: ‘I would love to go and watch because I think it's f*****g insane.

‘You know when they say there's a fine line between bravery and stupidity? Yeah. Those guys crossed that line a long time ago. I've got a lot of admiration for them, they're insane. One year, I would love to go and watch.’

Montoya, who also competed in IndyCar and NASCAR during a varied two-decade career, added that he thought TT riders were the bravest motorsport athletes in the world. He said: ‘TT racers are the bravest in the world. Imagine doing a street course with light poles and houses open around the track. Imagine that without barriers and just light poles and concrete stairs. That's the TT.’

The South American added that he rode motorcycles when he was growing up, before his single-seater career took off.

‘I used to ride a lot of enduro bikes. I really enjoyed riding off-road bikes.

‘I did it a long time ago. But I used to have pocket bikes, like little mini racing bikes; they weighed nothing, and they had like 17 horsepower.

‘Yeah, and they rev to like 15,000. They had full slick tyres; we had three compounds: soft, medium, hard, and rain tyres, and we used to go to a small kart track, and you would come out of the hairpins and gas it, and you would wheelie down the straight on it.’

- Juan Pablo was speaking in conjunction with BetBrothers.uk