{"id":758148,"date":"2026-06-24T23:37:18","date_gmt":"2026-06-24T23:37:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/758148\/"},"modified":"2026-06-24T23:37:18","modified_gmt":"2026-06-24T23:37:18","slug":"juan-montoya-backs-red-bull-as-potential-game-changing-twist-in-austria","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/758148\/","title":{"rendered":"Juan Montoya backs Red Bull as potential game-changing twist in Austria"},"content":{"rendered":"

Juan Pablo Montoya<\/a> has backed Red Bull Racing<\/a> to shake up the competitive order at this weekend\u2019s Austrian Grand Prix<\/a>, suggesting the Milton Keynes team could emerge as a surprise package.The former Formula 1<\/a> driver, previewing the race weekend, pointed to the Austrian outfit\u2019s planned upgrades as a potentially decisive factor at their home event. Montoya believes the latest developments could significantly improve the car\u2019s performance around Spielberg.<\/p>\n

Speaking via a gambling platform, Montoya praised Red Bull\u2019s overall progress, noting their strength in power unit performance while also hinting that further upgrades are likely on the way.<\/p>\n

\"max-verstappen-laurent-mekies.jpg\"\/<\/p>\n

Laurent Mekies and Max Verstappen – Photo: Race Pictures<\/p>\n

“What will be the next twist? A competitive Red Bull. Red Bull has done a really good job; they have the best engine. Apparently, they’ll significantly lighten the car for Austria. It will be a crucial move, and I assume some updates will follow,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

The Red Bull Racing outfit heads into its home race weekend with a major upgrade package for the RB22, with team principal Laurent Mekies<\/a> confirming in a previous conversation with GPBlog that the car will feature a lighter and more aerodynamically efficient specification in Spielberg.<\/a>Marko names Red Bull among favourites in Austria<\/p>\n

While Montoya expects Red Bull to emerge as a wildcard in Austria, former Red Bull advisor Helmut Marko has offered a more cautious assessment of the weekend\u2019s competitive picture. Marko, who concluded his long-standing Formula 1 involvement after the 2025 season, outlined several possible scenarios for how the weekend could unfold at the Red Bull Ring.<\/p>\n

Speaking to Austrian outlet Kleine Zeitung, Marko suggested Mercedes could start as favourites, while also warning that reliability concerns with their power unit could again become a factor. He added that Austria often proves to be a key opportunity for performance gains through upgrades, potentially allowing Red Bull and Max Verstappen<\/a> to close the gap if their own developments deliver.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe new regulations clearly put Mercedes in the favourite’s role. However, they’ve already had their second engine failure, which is unusual for them. Generally speaking, though, updates are certainly more effective at this stage of the regulations; you can gain five-tenths of a second in one go,\u201d Marko explained.<\/p>\n

\u201cRed Bull is fielding a car at the weight limit for the first time, so they’ll definitely be there. I hope Max can then be up front. Mercedes is the favourite, but the rest of the field is more than interesting,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Juan Pablo Montoya has backed Red Bull Racing to shake up the competitive order at this weekend\u2019s Austrian…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":758149,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[573],"tags":[64,63,64271,817,35119,813,816,870,14758,825,913,946,85],"class_list":["post-758148","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-formula-1","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-austrian-grand-prix","tag-f1","tag-f1-news","tag-formula-1","tag-formula1","tag-juan-pablo-montoya","tag-laurent-mekies","tag-max-verstappen","tag-mclaren","tag-red-bull-racing","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/758148","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=758148"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/758148\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/758149"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=758148"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=758148"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=758148"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}