The ‘million dollar’ F1 2026 conundrum facing Max Verstappen

As Lewis Hamilton came unstuck in F1’s ground-effect aerodynamic era, so too could four-time champion Max Verstappen with 2026’s all-new smaller, lighter, more agile cars.

That’s the opinion of former F1 driver Juan Pablo Montoya.

Max Verstappen’s ‘million dollar’ question

Formula 1 has undergone notable changes in the last decade and a bit, swapping engine formula in 2014 when the sport replaced the 2.4 litre V8 engines with 1.6 litre turbocharged V6 engine that incorporated an energy recovery system into the build.

And so began the Mercedes era.

Mercedes raced to seven successive Drivers’ Championship titles, with Hamilton winning six of those. He clinched his first with the Silver Arrows in 2014 and added a second in ’15 before his team-mate Nico Rosberg won in 2016. Hamilton then went on a four-year charge from 2017 to 2020.

The Briton’s reign ended in 2021, dethroned by eight points by Max Verstappen as Red Bull and Honda closed the gap leading to a winner-takes-all season finale in Abu Dhabi.

A year later, as F1 moved onto ground-effect aerodynamics with Adrian Newey spearheading the Red Bull design, it was all Red Bull and Verstappen.

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The Dutchman clinched 15 wins in a 22-race 2022 season before increasing his tally to 19 of 22 a year later. And while a year later, F1 2024, he faced competition from McLaren and Ferrari, he still won more races than any other team – nine.

This year, despite being the sole Red Bull driver in the mix, Verstappen is in the race for the title having secured two race wins to sit P3 in the standings.

But, as happened in the final year of the last technical shift when Red Bull closed in on Mercedes, McLaren have taken the fight to Red Bull and lead both championship races.

It has Montoya pondering whether 2026, with its all-new cars and engines, could hurt Verstappen as the last shift did with Hamilton.

“The question is the 2026 rules,” he told CasinoHawks.

“The question is not how good Max is. You can say Lewis won seven. But Lewis was in the right car for six of them. And the other one as well, McLaren. He left McLaren at the right time and went to Mercedes at the right time.

“So, can Red Bull still dominate with the new rules with no Adrian Newey? This is the first time Red Bull is going to go to a new regulation without Newey.

“That’s the million dollar question.”

And it is a question worth a million as that’s reportedly the offer Aston Martin have put on the table to sign Verstappen.

An offer that includes being reunited with Adrian Newey.

Newey, who designed every one of Verstappen’s title-winning Red Bull cars, left Red Bull last season to join Aston Martin in March this year, the design legend put in car of Aston Martin’s F1 2026 car.

The design guru who can “see air”, or so it has been said, Newey has been charged with designing the all-new AMR26.

It’s a million dollar question that Verstappen’s father Jos pondering whether his son will be with the right team at the right time come 2026.

“I think that’s probably more in the back of Jos mind than Max’s,” continued Montoya.

“Jos has been around longer and understands it better, and he understands how important it is to have the right person building the car.

“Newey is outstanding. If somebody deserves a trophy for championships, it should be him more than anybody else.”

Newey left Red Bull last season to join Aston Martin in March this year, leading to rumours that the Silverstone team was laying out $1 billion investment plan to entice Verstappen. Aston Martin has categorically denied this.

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