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Juan Pablo Montoya believes Max Verstappen should consider a salary reduction to potentially join Mercedes in 2025. Verstappen's future with Red Bull has been uncertain amid the team's decline, and he's had a mixed start to the season with one win in the first four rounds.
Red Bull advisor Helmut Marko confirmed Max Verstappen's contract has an exit clause, reportedly allowing him to leave if he's below third in the standings. Currently third in the championship, Verstappen is just six points ahead of George Russell. Juan Pablo Montoya suggests Verstappen could take a pay cut to facilitate a potential move to Mercedes for 2026.
“If I was Max, I would be concerned,” Montoya told Plejmo.
“Six months ago, he could have asked for any amount of money to go anywhere and people would have paid it.
“The way Red Bull is running right now, he could go to Toto and say, ‘Look, pay me less than you had to pay me, but let me drive your car’. Is he willing to do that?”
Max Verstappen is reportedly the highest-paid F1 driver, thanks to his past success with Red Bull. However, with Red Bull's performance decline and McLaren's strong start to the season, Juan Pablo Montoya believes Verstappen's negotiation power may be weakened, potentially impacting his future contract discussions.
“It’s the beginning of the end of Max Verstappen at Red Bull,” he said. “For sure it is. But in a way, Max has been pretty blessed with being in the best car.
“But this year is a bit of a reality check. Max wants to win, but if the Red Bull is not competitive, the negotiation is very different.
“I think the negotiation a year ago before he re-signed with Red Bull when Toto [Wolff] was very outspoken about signing Max, was very different to what it would be now.
“The number was an insane number. McLaren also reached out to Max to see how much it was before they re-signed Piastri, and the number was insane.
“So, at some point Max needs to make a decision, ‘Do I want to try to be in the best car, do I want to make a ton of money?’”
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