Max Verstappen sent complicated McLaren warning: 'How comfortable is that?'

Juan Pablo Montoya has urged Max Verstappen to think carefully before making any move to McLaren, insisting life at the Woking-based team would be far from straightforward.

Speculation over Verstappen's future at Red Bull has grown in recent weeks, with the reigning constructors' champions increasingly viewed as the Dutchman's most likely new home.

However, McLaren Racing CEO Zak Brown has tried and tried again to pour cold water on the rumours, and both Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri hold long-term contracts at the Papaya squad.

Montoya, who raced for McLaren for one-and-a-half seasons in 2005 and 2006, addressed the rumours on his MontoyAS podcast, and his message was blunt: don't do it.

Some of the speculation has centred on Gianpiero Lambiase, Verstappen's long-serving race engineer, who is set to join McLaren in 2028 as Chief Racing Officer. Montoya was quick to dampen expectations on that front.

"First of all, Gianpiero is not going to be the race engineer; he's going to get a much higher senior role," the seven-time grand prix winner said.

"So no, that would not be his job. If Max goes that way, he'll have him there, but he'll be higher up in the hierarchy. Not directly one-on-one, you know?"

The Colombian highlighted that Lambiase himself would face a steep learning curve, adding: "For Gianpiero, the move is also a completely new world. New programmes, new mentalities. A totally different way of doing things. And Gianpiero still has to learn all of that too. That doesn't happen overnight, that's one thing."

The Norris factor

But Montoya's bigger concern is more nuanced: Verstappen currently has the luxury of a team constructed entirely around him at Red Bull, and the 50-year-old questioned whether that would ever be the case at McLaren, which already has Norris.

"Right now, everyone can see that McLaren is completely built around Lando," he said. "How comfortable is that? You know what I mean? Max has the advantage that he's at Red Bull, and everything revolves around him."

Montoya was careful not to rule out Verstappen being fast enough to beat Norris, but stressed the challenge runs deeper than outright pace.

"Once you leave there, you have to share," the two-time winner of the Indianapolis 500 stated. "And he probably has the pace to beat him, but as they say here: Lando is no pushover. And the car is built around what Lando wants; he sets the direction of the car."

Montoya was candid about the risk, concluding: "If Max goes that way, the car doesn't suit him and they don't make the changes he wants, what's going to happen? That's why I'm telling you: it really isn't that straightforward."