Montoya: The ‘Million-Dollar’ question is about Verstappen's future
F1 NewsThursday, 10 July 2025 at 13:52
Juan Pablo Montoya believes Christian Horner’s shock sacking from Red Bull has only intensified the uncertainty around Max Verstappen’s future, calling it the “million-dollar question” whether the team axed the long-serving boss to keep the Dutchman or because they already lost him.
Speaking in the wake of Horner’s ousting, Montoya said: “I think Christian Horner’s sacking has surprised everybody. There has been talk for the last year and a half about them possibly wanting Horner out, because of all the drama happening internally at Red Bull.
“I think there are going to be a lot of changes in Red Bull, they need a lot of changes. The million dollar question is, have Red Bull got rid of Horner because Max Verstappen is leaving, or did they get rid of Horner to prevent Max from leaving? That’s what everyone will be wondering about for the next few weeks or months until we know what happens with Max.”
Montoya said the team is in a structural crisis: “With how hard the Red Bull car is to drive, they need to rebuild their team. Adrian Newey has left, and they need a new structure to be put in place. In the long term, Red Bull will be okay, but in the short term, they’re going to struggle to put everything in place and hire the right people."
Montoya: It’s going to be exciting from the outside to see what happens at Red Bull.
"I do feel sorry for Christian because of everything he’s done for the team," lamented Montoya. "Everything happens for a reason and we’ll see what happens. Overall, I think the sacking has a lot to do with Max leaving Red Bull. Whether it’s about Max staying or leaving, that will be the big question mark everyone is wondering about.”
The Colombian 49-year-old cast doubt on who could realistically fill Verstappen’s seat if he leaves: “Who's there to replace him? There's nobody. Is Leclerc getting closer? I haven't even looked at the points, but if Leclerc is getting closer, maybe.
"Honestly, George might be signed already, and Toto is trying to bring instability to everybody else. George might have a deal that’s been signed for another five years and we're here saying maybe George is not going to be here. Toto might just be stirring the pot.”
Red Bull’s junior options aren’t enough, Montoya argued: “You look at Lawson finally performing. He did a really good job this weekend. Yuki was performing because Yuki was doing a really good job but nobody can perform at that Red Bull."
So, what do you blame? What do you do? Where do you go from here?
Montoya continued: "That for me is the million-dollar question with Red Bull, why is it so complicated to drive? I don't think it's complicated, I think it's just so different from any other car that a guy like George, unless you had like a three or four year commitment, knowing that you're gonna struggle but you have time to figure it out, then you wouldn't go there."
Montoya believes Red Bull’s design philosophy continues to alienate any driver not named Verstappen: “I think Red Bull created a philosophy that we're happy running one car and whatever happens with the second car doesn't matter because it's not about Max.
"But they started to realise that they need to change that and it takes time. It takes time because now your people in design, people in development never listen to the second driver. They never listen to what he wants. Never. Nothing gets developed, nothing gets looked at.
“Okay how do we fix this instability in the car? Well, Max doesn't complain about that instability, so let's not waste time on that. Max is saying that the car needs more front so let's focus on making more front and as they make more front, the car gets harder to drive and that instability gets bigger, but Max can still drive it.
“And then anybody else in the car struggles and they go we're gonna numb the front to make it where the guy can drive it but if you numb the front then apart from when the car gets really twitchy, it doesn't turn and it doesn't do anything right.
“You need to have a strong enough driver during that second car that is willing to spend enough hours on a simulator changing things and getting out of that bubble that they're running. Because the bubble where they're running that car is not right and it's hard. It's really tough because they're very committed to that and they need to understand how they need to run the car differently," explained Montoya.
(Source: BetVictor Casino)
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