'Verstappen stays with Red Bull, Russell secures new Mercedes contract'

All speculation about Max Verstappen's move to Mercedes may well be nonsense, according to Juan Pablo Montoya. The former F1 driver seriously considers that George Russell has already signed a new contract with the German team. 

Montoya suggests there's a good reason to keep this under wraps: "Honestly, George might be signed already, and Toto is trying to bring instability to everybody else. George might have a deal that’s been signed for another five years, and we're here saying maybe George is not going to be here. Toto might just be stirring the pot," said the Colombian.

What is Red Bull planning for '26?

Montoya is also curious which driver Red Bull will place in the second car next year, presumably alongside Verstappen. "What are they going to do? You look at [Liam] Lawson finally performing. He did a really good job this weekend. Yuki [Tsunoda] was performing because Yuki was doing a really good job, but nobody can perform at that Red Bull. So, what do you blame? What do you do? Where do you go from here?"

"That for me is the million-dollar question with Red Bull - why is it so complicated to drive? I don't think it's complicated, I think it's just so different from any other car that a guy like George, unless you had like a three or four year commitment, knowing that you're gonna struggle but you have time to figure it out, then you wouldn't go there," Montoya concluded.