Max Verstappen tipped to leave Red Bull in F1 bombshell, ‘career saving’ sacking rewrites history
A ticking time bomb is set to explode on Red Bull, as the team grapples with a crippling problem and rumours swirl about Max Verstappen.
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Red Bull’s 2025 Formula One season is poised to be a slow motion car crash that could well end with Max Verstappen leaving to join a rival team.
That is the verdict from one former driver as the F1 paddock comes to terms with Red Bull’s shock move to drop Liam Lawson and swap him with Yuki Tsunoda after just two races.
After more than four years at Red Bull’s junior team, Tsunoda will finally get a crack at Red Bull at this weekend’s Japanese Grand Prix, while Lawson returns to Racing Bulls, the team where he began his F1 career.
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Speaking to news.com.au, seven-time F1 race winner Juan Pablo Montoya said the brutal decision to drop Lawson may have been made with an eye to “protecting” the Kiwi from doing irreversible damage to his career.
“I’m not sure if the move is in a way to protect Liam, because if they kept him there all year and he drives like this, it kind of forces their hand to get rid of him,” Montoya said, via Vision4Sport, where you can enquire about exclusive packages to the world’s best sporting events.
“They like him, they know he can perform. Great for Yuki but for at the same time, if Liam can perform Racing Bulls like he was before, it kind of saves his career to a point.
“I think the team should have come out and said, ‘We know we have issues, it’s going to take time, we believe in Liam’ and go to Liam and say, ‘You’re gonna have two years to figure it out and we’re gonna work together’.”
Second driver dilemma Red Bull must fix
Tsunoda will become Verstappen’s sixth teammate at Red Bull following Lawson, Sergio Perez, Alex Albon, Pierre Gasly and Daniel Ricciardo.
It is proving harder than ever to be the No. 2 driver at Red Bull, given the car is designed to suit Verstappen’s driving style. The Dutchman said after the Chinese Grand Prix he expects Lawson would find the Racing Bulls car easier to drive.
Montoya said Tsunoda’s promotion is a gamble that “might work better towards Red Bull”.
“But they’ve still got to figure out how to run two cars,” he said.
“It’s hard because the whole development of the car goes towards what Max needs.”
Montoya pointed out Perez had four podiums in the first five races in 2024 before his season was derailed following new updates to Red Bull’s car brought in at the Miami Grand Prix and he was eventually sacked in the offseason.
“In a way I’m surprised they reacted this quickly (by sacking Lawson) and didn’t work on the problem,” Montoya said.
“You’ve got to be realistic, when Checo (Perez) was there, the issue was there. Checo suffered a lot and he got blamed for everything. In happens a lot in motorsport, when someone’s struggling it’s much easier to blame the driver than the car or the team.
“I think they were convinced the problem was Checo and the engineers were convinced the problem was Checo. When they put Liam in the car and he can’t drive it, they’re like, ‘What the hell is going on?’
“The philosophy of the car, it’s all driven towards Max. At the end of the day, he is the primary driver. They need to either figure out somebody who can drive it, or go in two different directions with the car.
“You need a strong driver who can manage that situation … who has the balls to go to the engineers and say, ‘You’re wrong’.”
In 2023, Alex Albon explained just how difficult it was to drive the Red Bull car during his time with the team.
“When I got into the Red Bull … I mean there was so much nose on the thing that if you blew on the wheel the car would turn,” Albon wrote for the Players’ Tribune.
“If you play Call of Duty, or a game like that, turn your sensitivity up to the highest it will go. That’s what it’s like to drive that car.
“When I got in the car and had a few sessions under my belt, I thought of Pierre (Gasly). I get it. I get it, mate.
“This isn’t to throw shade at anyone at Red Bull Racing or Max or anything, honestly.
“But the car is set up in a unique way that is built around the lead driver, and that’s Max. “And, look, I totally get why. I mean, when all is said and done, he might be the greatest driver of all time.”
Verstappen’s inevitable Red Bull defection
Red Bull has become a sinking ship — with the death of Red Bull founder Dietrich Mateschitz, the Christian Horner scandal and car designer Adrian Newey’s departure to Aston Martin conspiring to be a perfect storm of turmoil as the rest of the F1 grid catches up to Red Bull in the final year of the current regulations.
F1 enters a new era of regulations in 2026 and Aston Martin and Mercedes are the frontrunners to lure Verstappen away from Red Bull, where he is contracted until the end of 2028.
Verstappen has won four consecutive titles with Red Bull but there is a sense of curiosity about whether he can win a world championship with a second team, like Lewis Hamilton and Michael Schumacher did.
Doing that would put Verstappen right in the conversation as one of the greatest F1 drivers of all time, so there is plenty of intrigue about whether or not he stays at Red Bull.
Ford will take over Honda as Red Bull’s in-house engine supplier from 2026, with Honda forming a new engine works partnership with Aston Martin starting next year that is tipped to see the team become more competitive.
“It really depends how well they perform this year,” Montoya said about Verstappen’s future at Red Bull.
“I’d be surprised if he leaves at the end of 2025, but it wouldn’t surprise me if at the end of 2026 he’s not there.
“If I was him, I would go to Aston because you won everything with Adrian (Newey) and Adrian’s there, and you won everything with Honda and Honda’s there.
“So you’ve got the same engine that gave you all the championships and the same designer that gave you all the championships.
“The position he’s in, he could probably get part ownership in the team and everything for the future.”
Montoya said the growing uncertainty surrounding Verstappen’s future could cast a shadow over Red Bull’s season if their struggles continue.
“The reality of it is if Red Bull struggles through the year and Max decides to leave Red Bull, Red Bull won’t have a direction,” he said.
“Imagine you put Liam and Checo in the car, just to name two drivers, next year. They won’t even run top 10, Williams will outrun Red Bull because everything is just being built to Max.
“I’m not sure they really understand why Max can drive it and nobody else. It’s really hard.
“They really need to change their philosophy, it seems to be a big struggle. I don’t envy them.
“The only way they’re going to come out of this ahead is putting someone in and staying with it and really build a team around the second driver as well.
“The driver needs to put the effort in by going to the simulator and say, ‘Let’s change and make it more drivable’. You need to have someone who is willing to spend hours and days on set up. How do we change the philosophy of the car to make it work?”
The F1 season continues this weekend at the Japanese Grand Prix on Sunday, April 6 at 3pm.
Originally published as Max Verstappen tipped to leave Red Bull in F1 bombshell, ‘career saving’ sacking rewrites history
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