Max Verstappen and Red Bull are facing the “beginning of the end” of their relationship, that’s according to Juan Pablo Montoya.

Although it is still early days in the F1 2025 championship, already it looks as if the season could be dominated by McLaren.

Is F1 2025 Verstappen’s final season with Red Bull?

Not only has the Woking team claimed three of four Grand Prix victories to sit 1-2 in the Drivers’ standings where Lando Norris leads Oscar Piastri by three points, they also have a huge lead in the Constructors’ standings, 58 points up on Mercedes.

As for Red Bull, they are 80 points off the pace while a difficult Bahrain Grand Prix saw Verstappen drop to third in the battle to defend his World title.

But while it could be stressed that he is just eight points down on the championship leader, Red Bull’s struggles in Bahrain have raised questions about how long Verstappen could stick around, given the decline began last year already, even though he did win a fourth World title.

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Verstappen‘s Red Bull contract runs through to the end of the F1 2028 season but there is a performance-related exit clause that reports allows him to leave if he is lower than third at a certain point of the season.

Red Bull motorsport advisor Helmut Marko is worried.

“The concern is great,” Marko admitted. “Improvements have to come in the near future so that he has a car with which he can win again. We have to create a basis with a car so that he can fight for the World Championship.”

For now, though, Verstappen doesn’t see that happening.

“McLaren are not my rivals right now,” he said at the Sakhir circuit. “I am just taking part in this World Championship.”

Former F1 driver Montoya believes the writing is on the wall and that it is only a matter of time before Verstappen says farewell to the Milton Keynes squad.

The big question is, will he chase a winning car amidst reports Mercedes’ 2026 engine could once set them apart from the chasing pack or money, with Aston Martin rumoured to have put a $1 billion deal on the table.

“This is the beginning of the end of Max Verstappen at Red Bull,” Montoya told Plejmo. “It almost has to be.

“But in a way, Verstappen has been a blessed person with the time when he had the best car.

“Max wants to win, but if the Red Bull is not competitive, it is difficult to negotiate. The negotiations went last year, when Toto Wolff was also very vocal about signing Max, differently than it would be now. The amounts have risen incredibly high.

“But at some point Max has to make the choice: ‘do I want to go for the best car or do I want to make a lot of money?’.”

And it’s a decision the 27-year-old has to make before his stock goes done.

“If I were Max, I would be worried,” added the former McLaren driver.

“Six months ago he could have asked for the top price where he could have gone and people would have paid that. But with how things are going at Red Bull now, he can also knock on Toto Wolff’s door and say ‘dude, pay me less, but let me drive your car’.

“Is he willing to do that?

“If he really wants to win, he will go to Toto Wolff to convince him to hire him. If he wants to get into the position where he can maybe win and still make a lot of money, then he has to go to Lawrence Stroll and Aston Martin.”

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