Montoya: Max Verstappen will not be a problem for Lewis Hamilton this year

Winning a world championship in Formula 1 does not rely on a single factor. An exceptional driver, a high-performance car, and a strong team are the essential ingredients for success. However, for Juan Pablo Montoya, a former Colombian driver who won seven Grand Prix between 2001 and 2006, these conditions are not present for Max Verstappen this year. “Max Verstappen will not be Lewis’s problem this year,” he concluded.

Montoya highlights a major difficulty: the uncertainty surrounding technical decisions in Formula 1. It’s really difficult because when you believe what you’re doing is right and suddenly things stop working, how far back do you go? And at what point do you ask yourself: “Is what we are doing now right, or are we still wrong?”

The evolution of a single-seater relies on crucial choices. Understanding where a mistake was made is a constant challenge, and teams don’t have the luxury of time to analyze every detail. If you say you’re building the car the wrong way and you realize that what you’re doing is wrong, then how confident are you that what you’re doing now is completely right? continues Montoya.

In a sport where the slightest mistake can be costly, sometimes you have to make a decision, even if it means taking risks. At some point, they must simply say: “This is what we believe in, this is where we’re going to focus our efforts, this is what we’re going to do, and here’s what’s going to happen.”

If one persists in the wrong direction, they risk ending up at a dead end. You end up stagnating or even regressing. If you keep moving forward based on poor foundations, you will never get out of the hole. A reflection that seems to echo the difficulties faced by Red Bull in 2024. Fortunately for the Austrian team, Verstappen had accumulated enough points at the beginning of the season to compensate for a drop in performance in the second half of the championship.

The development of a single-seater is an exercise of extreme complexity, influenced by a multitude of parameters. It is likely that the departure of Adrian Newey will weigh heavily on Red Bull’s performance in 2025. I would be surprised if Red Bull starts as strong as in recent years. Adrian Newey stated the other day that the issues at Red Bull are not as simple as they think, observes Montoya. Present in the team since 2006, the brilliant British engineer has always proven his ability to design winning cars. His loss in favor of Aston Martin could reshuffle the deck.

The question remains whether Red Bull will be able to identify and resolve the issues raised by Newey in time. On his side, Lewis Hamilton will face numerous challenges in his quest for an eighth world title. But according to Montoya, Verstappen will not be his main opponent this year. It remains to be seen how Scuderia Ferrari will perform and if the rivalry between Hamilton and Charles Leclerc will complicate matters.