Montoya: Red Bull may drop to Williams' level

      In 2026, Red Bull Racing will switch to its own power plants developed jointly with Ford. Former Formula 1 driver Juan Pablo Montoya believes that due to the abandonment of Honda engines, the Milton Keynes team may fall out of the lead, which will prompt Max Verstappen to leave.

      "No one knows what the Red Bull engine will be like next year," Montoya said. – They can easily drop to the level that Williams is showing this season.

      If Red Bull does end up among the teams in the middle group, then Max Verstappen will start asking questions about whether he wants to continue to be in the team. This factor will become even more important, given all the conditions in the contract that allow him to terminate the cooperation ahead of schedule.

      But where will Max go? It will be difficult for him to move to McLaren, as they recently extended the contract with Oscar Piastri. Will Toto Wolff fire Kimi Antonelli to make way for Verstappen? Or will he fire George Russell? I do not know how quickly such decisions are made."