Max Verstappen urged to take salary cut to quit Red Bull

Seven-time grand prix winner Juan Pablo Montoya has suggested Max Verstappen should take a pay cut in an effort to link up with Mercedes next year.

Verstappen has consistently been linked with an exit from the Red Bull squad across the last 12 months amid its slow decline down the F1 pecking order.

The Dutchman has won once in the opening four rounds of the new campaign and suffered a painful event in Bahrain last time out, taking the chequered flag in sixth place – matching his lowest classification from the entire 2024 campaign.

Red Bull advisor Helmut Marko has confirmed an exit clause exists in the Dutchman’s contract, with recent reports suggesting he can trigger it if he is lower than third in the standings later in the year.

Verstappen is currently hovering around the reported threshold as he sits third in the drivers’ standings, but only six points ahead of Mercedes’ George Russell.

Should he look to seek a new squad for 2026, Montoya has highlighted he could look to take a pay cut to negotiate a late exit.

“If I was Max, I would be concerned,” Montoya told Plejmo.

“Six months ago, he could have asked for any amount of money to go anywhere and people would have paid it. 

“The way Red Bull is running right now, he could go to Toto and say, ‘Look, pay me less than you had to pay me, but let me drive your car’. Is he willing to do that?”