“Maybe Jos Verstappen is p*ssed and wants to drive Max Verstappen away" - Former F1 driver's theory on the Dutch driver's departure rumors

Former F1 race winner and title contender Juan Pablo Montoya sees no merit to rumors of Max Verstappen wanting to leave Red Bull unless his father, Jos Verstappen, is angry at the team. The start of the 2024 F1 season has been a rollercoaster ride for the Austrian team. It started with the internal investigation of the alleged sexual harassment case against Christian Horner.

What followed was a very public political game that saw Christian Horner being pinned to one side with the likes of Helmut Marko, Jos Verstappen and Max Verstappen on the other. Since then, while Red Bull's on-track success has been sustained, the off-track drama has continued.

The biggest of them all is Adrian Newey's decision that he didn't want to be a part of the team anymore. As soon as the news came out, there were reports of Max Verstappen having a meeting with Toto Wolff for a potential move to Mercedes. While Verstappen has quashed these rumors time and again, they continue to resurface.

Juan Pablo Montoya doesn't think there is any sense or logic in Max Verstappen making such a move away from Red Bull, where he is already winning everything. The only reason Montoya could theorize was maybe Jos Verstappen was angry at Red Bull and hence was taking his son away. Talking to RacingNews365, Montoya said:

“I really don’t [see Verstappen leaving], I think he would be stupid if he did. Max has everybody talking: ‘Oh, he is going to leave Red Bull’, and you go, ‘Why would you leave Red Bull if they’re winning everything?’"

He added:

“Unless you are not there for the right reason, you will leave, but if you are there for the right reason, you wouldn’t touch it. Maybe Jos is p*ssed and wants to drive Max away, it could be, but honestly, he is in the right situation right now, and it would be crazy to go."

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Max Verstappen's reaction to Adrian Newey leaving Red Bull

Max Verstappen shared a rather pragmatic reaction when it came to talking about Adrian Newey leaving the team. The Dutch driver said that while he would have hoped Newey stayed with the team instead of going to a rival team, he understood the decision taken by the ace designer.

When it came to talking about the impact of Newey's departure, he felt that the media had blown the whole situation out of proportion, and the driver felt that Red Bull had a strong team in place that would continue to do the job just like it did earlier. As quoted by PlanetF1, he said:

"I think people in the press, they’re making up a lot of things at the moment, because they don’t understand how the roles were in the team."

He added:

“But of course, like I said before, I cannot deny that I would have preferred him to stay, just for how he is as a person, his knowledge. And of course, what he will bring to potentially another team if he wants to join."

The future of Max Verstappen at Red Bull is certainly a question whose answer nobody has at the moment. These decisions are taken behind the scenes, and the fans are the last to know when everything is already said and done. If the Austrian team does lose the driver, that would be a massive blow.