New Delhi, India

Former F1 driver Juan Pablo Montoya opened up on the rumours of Max Verstappen leaving Red Bull. While Verstappen has denied all such claims, rumours of his departure keep popping up from time to time amid a lot happening off the circuit in the Red Bull camp this season. The start of the 2024 F1 season saw an alleged sexual harassment case being filed against team principal Christian Horner, which made a lot of noise, and was soon followed by the exit of Adrian Newey -- their superstar engineer. Amid all this, news of Verstappen being eager to leave Red Bull continues to resurface.

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Thus, Montoya believes Max has no reason to leave Red Bull, given he is winning almost every race. However, he opined that if the rumours come true, Max's father Jos Verstappen might have a role in his exit. When Horner was under the radar for sexual harassment accusation, by an unnamed female employee, it is believed that he was on one side whereas Verstappens and current director Helmet Marko were on the other. Since then, there are strong reports that suggest that Jos isn't happy with Red Bull's internal issues. 

Thus, Montoya told RacingNews365, "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?’ 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."

He added, "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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Meanwhile, Max -- ignoring his transfer rumours -- reacted to Newey's departure, stating that the media had blown the whole situation out of proportion and reckoned that Red Bull still have a strong team in place.

The Dutchman stated that he would have loved to see Newey continue but understood the veteran's decision. He told, as quoted by PlanetF1, "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 further 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."