Scott Gulbransen
Juan Pablo Montoya has seen this story before. Driver gets frustrated. Driver complains. And then the sport moves on without him.
The Colombian racing legend isn’t buying the idea that Formula 1 should rewrite its rulebook because Max Verstappen is unhappy sitting in the midpack and he made that crystal clear in a wide-ranging interview this week with Casinostugan.
Max Verstappen’s Problems: Not the Regulations but His Car
Verstappen currently sits 9th in the 2026 standings, already 50 points behind championship leader Kimi Antonelli after just three races. The four-time world champion has been relentless in his criticism of the new power unit regulations, famously describing the experience as “Formula E on steroids.” And while Montoya has some sympathy for the frustration, he draws a hard line at changing the rules to suit one driver or one team.
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“I understand his frustration, but the problem is for him he’s come from winning races to be in the fifth team,” Montoya said. “He has never been in this position like this before in his career. He has always been really competitive.”
That’s a significant point. Verstappen dominated four consecutive championships and finished second in 2025. What he’s experiencing now, being stuck behind a Pierre Gasly and unable to pass, is genuinely foreign to him. But Montoya’s argument is that the new regulations were on the table years ago, and everyone knew what was coming.
“They all knew this four years ago,” he said. “He might be right, he might be wrong, but that’s what the rules are now. And this is the ball he has been given to play with.”
When it comes to Red Bull specifically, Montoya isn’t letting the team off the hook either. Red Bull has struggled to integrate the new power unit architecture and energy management systems within the RB22’s overall package and Montoya sees a construction problem at the root of it.
“Red Bull built a heavy car, the same as Williams did, and they’re paying the price,” Montoya said. “It’s tough and it’s hard because you might be competitive for five laps, and you’re bleeding pace when everybody else’s cruising.”
Montoya to Adrian Newey: Stick to the Engineer Role
Montoya also weighed in on Adrian Newey’s role at Aston Martin, where the legendary designer is navigating a very different set of responsibilities than on the drawing board. The take was blunt.
“Adrian is an engineer and he should stick to that,” Montoya said. “He is good at designing cars. He is not a team principal. He is not there to deal with the press. He shouldn’t be dealing with sponsors. His only focus should be on making the car go faster which is what he is brilliant at.”
Ouch.
F1’s Path Forward on Regulations Changes
On the broader regulation debate, Montoya did offer a legitimate path forward — sector-specific limits on energy deployment — particularly as a safety response to incidents like Oliver Bearman’s 50G crash at Suzuka, which resulted from massive speed differentials created by energy deployment gaps between drivers.
“The only solution they can do, if it’s a safety concern, is to limit the amount of energy deployment in sectors,” Montoya said. “Then it’s fair game for everybody.”
But he’s quick to note the tradeoffs. Pull energy back too far, and the sport risks returning to the era of DRS trains which was a parade of cars with no meaningful action.
“Then you’re going to get to the next race and nobody’s going to pass anybody,” he said. “And then people will complain that the racing is boring. You’re going to fix the safety issue but you’re going to end up people sitting like they used to sit in the DRS trains.”
And if Verstappen ultimately walks? Montoya’s message is simple — he did it himself, and the sport survived.
“If he wants to leave, he should leave,” Montoya said. “I did that, I left F1.”
Formula 1 and the FIA have scheduled meetings with teams in April to discuss regulatory tweaks ahead of the Miami Grand Prix in May, giving the sport a genuine window to address the safety concerns Montoya and others have flagged. Whether those talks produce meaningful change remains to be seen.
