Verstappen Has No Regrets Rejecting Mercedes, Says Manager

Max Verstappen has absolutely no regrets rejecting Mercedes for Red Bull Racing in 2014, according to 10-time Grand Prix winner’s manager Raymond Vermeulen.

The Dutch racing driver has been Lewis Hamilton’s closest challenger in recent seasons but just does not have the machinery to match the pace of the Mercedes.

The Silver Arrows team approached Verstappen in 2014 after he had been offered a seat for the 2015 Formula 1 season by Red Bull.

But the Dutchman along with the support of his manager and former F1 racer father, Jos Verstappen, chose to sign with Red Bull.

"No, I think we made the right choice at that time. All three of us still fully support that. I think that Max has really received super guidance and also super preparation for his F1 debut at Red Bull,” Vermeulen told Motorsports.com during a recent interview.

“We are at Red Bull and feel like a fish in the water. What the future will bring is the future, but for the time being, we are very happy with the choices we have made,” he added.

Red Bull has produced fast cars since Verstappen joined the team, but he is still rewarded with machinery that can be consistently on par with the Mercedes for the entire campaign.

He has managed to get the better of Hamilton in Mercedes on a few occasions, but they have been far and few in-between.

Verstappen and his team did have another chance to assess their future with Red Bull earlier this year, especially with both Mercedes drivers’ contracts expiring at the end of the 2020 season.

However, in a surprise move, Red Bull announced in January that they had reached an agreement with their No.1 driver over a deal until the end of the 2023 season.

"At that moment we got into a conversation with Red Bull and--as things often go--you end up in a certain flow. And I think that at that moment, in that period, we also made the right decision. The future will show whether that was [really] the right decision, but at least all three of us fully support it,” Vermeulen said when asked about the surprise early extension.

Mercedes has gone on to re-sign Valtteri Bottas to a new one-year deal for 2021 and is expected to announce a bumper new long-term contract with seven-time F1 world champion Lewis Hamilton in the coming days.