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Max Verstappen has been tipped to leave Red Bull for Aston Martin and not Mercedes by Juan Pablo Montoya. The Dutch driver's future has been a conversation that many continue to have every time the Austrian team goes through a setback.
The latest is the one with Max Verstappen's teammate. The Dutch driver has been teamed up with 4 different drivers since 2019, and none of them were able to accomplish a decent enough job. First, it was Pierre Gasly who was followed by Alex Albon, who was promptly replaced by Sergio Perez.
The Mexican stayed with the team during its dominant run but lost out in 2024 and was replaced by Liam Lawson. The Kiwi, on his part, has been replaced by Yuki Tsunoda after just two races. There's mismanagement going on at the team when it comes to the second driver, and Max Verstappen is admittedly upset at how a few things have been handled.
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Coupled with the fact that Red Bull is struggling for performance with the car, questions have been raised over the driver's future with the team. Juan Pablo Montoya feels that Max Verstappen would leave the team for Aston Martin in 2025 as Lawrence Stroll would give him an offer that he can't refuse. He told Vision4sport,
“I think Max will get an offer he can’t refuse from Aston Martin. He might give Red Bull a chance for a year and a chance for Adrian to start figuring it out. Adrian can’t do that immediately. It's a new whole group and everyone needs to start working together. Are they going to be better than where they are next year? For sure. But I don't think they're going to start winning a string of races.”
Montoya on the timeline of when Max Verstappen leaves Red Bull
Juan Pablo Montoya feels that Max Verstappen is going to give Red Bull a handful of races at the start of the new regulations in 2026, and if the car is not up to the mark, he'll make a move to Aston Martin.
According to Montoya, Mercedes is an option for sure, but at Aston Martin, Max Verstappen has Adrian Newey and the Honda power unit, the two things that helped him succeed at Red Bull as well. He said,
“But if Red Bull struggles in year one, then it wouldn't surprise me if by race three Max has already signed with somebody else. If I was Max, I would go to Aston. Mercedes would be cool too, but Aston would be the logical choice having Adrian and Honda. Everything he has won with is there.”
Verstappen does have a contract until the end of 2028, but in F1, contracts are generally flexible and often contain exit clauses.
