Montoya: Hadjar being sacrificed, Lindblad is not ready for F1

Montoya believes Red Bull have destabilised both their programmes by pushing Lindblad into Racing Bulls before his time while simultaneously placing Hadjar in an environment where he will not be treated equally.

He argued that the decision to remove Yuki Tsunoda was the biggest mistake in the reshuffle: “For me it is crazy they got rid of Tsunoda. At the beginning of the year he was close to being on the podium and in the points every week.

“He was better than Hadjar, better than Lawson. Why sacrifice Hadjar, as good as a talent as he is, by putting him in the Red Bull? If he can have Max’s speed, is Max and his group going to allow Hadjar to beat Max? There's no way in hell that's going to happen.”

Montoya believes the internal dynamic that helped Hadjar thrive at Racing Bulls will now work against him at Red Bull Racing: “They should have kept Tsunoda with Max and kept Hadjar in the second team and grow that. Hadjar has a really good working atmosphere in the Racing Bulls. They're friendly and he feels happy and welcome. And you don't feel that when you're in the Red Bull."

“Hadjar has been thriving in that environment. Let’s see how he thrives against Max. The positive thing he has going for him is by being in a new championship with new rules next year, they're going to have to build the same cars to start with," explained the Grand Prix and Le Mans winner.

Montoya warned that equal equipment will quickly disappear as development begins: “But the problem for him is that once the upgrades come in are they going to be on both cars. Very few times as a number two to Max, do you have the same thing as Max. So, it's really hard to beat Max, not only because he's that good, but because he's the number one on the team.

"People forget that every focus on Red Bull is on one driver. In McLaren, Mercedes, Williams, they're about equality, making the team better. Racing Bulls is the same. And in Red Bull, you don't. Red Bull, you see one car. One car only.”

Montoya argued that Red Bull’s structure has repeatedly limited capable drivers: “You can't blame the drivers who’ve been number 2 to Max. You can't blame Lawson who can score points in the Racing Bulls. You can't blame Tsunoda who can score points. And Checo Perez was winning races.

“That’s the tough part. So, is it worth sacrificing Hadjar? The only thing that can change and help Hadjar is if Red Bull change their mentality and give Hadjar equal opportunity. If that happens it will be an amazing opportunity for Hadjar. But that won’t happen.”

Regarding the rookie promotion, Montoya did not mince his words: “The speculation has been going on for a long time. But personally, I don't think Arvid Lindblad is ready.”

With Hadjar joining Verstappen at Red Bull Racing and Lindblad stepping into F1 as a rookie at Racing Bulls, Montoya’s warning underlines the risk both face in 2026 if Red Bull’s hierarchy continues unchanged.