Montoya: “Perez’s words confirm to me that Verstappen is unlikely to leave Red Bull”

The Colombian’s opinion “In Red Bull it was always a problem, whether I was going fast or whether I was far from Verstappen.” Sergio Perez was recently a guest on an episode of the Cracks Podcast in which he underlined how uncomfortable the Red Bull seat is alongside Max Verstappen, a steering wheel that has already ‘burned’ or at least ‘scalded’ numerous drivers. In 2026 it will be up to Isack Hadjar to have the honor and burden of competing with the four-time world champion who in 2025 had no internal competition from Liam Lawson and Yuki Tsunoda. According to Juan Pablo Montoya, what Sergio Perez declared corroborates the thesis of those who believe that it will be very difficult for Verstappen to leave Red Bull precisely because in another team he would lose the status he enjoys in Red Bull: “What Perez said is terrible – the words of Montoya reached by the Colombian version of the Spanish newspaper AS – if you manage to go faster than Max, it’s a problem, and if you go slower than Max, it’s a problem. You lose whether heads or tails come up. If you go faster of Max, they will change everything so that Max can go faster. They will blame you for misjudging the situation. That’s why I think it’s difficult for Verstappen to move to another team. The reality of not being number one and not having the status he has at Red Bull, where he can do anything he wants, is complicated.”