Max Verstappen underlines the truth about his character by committing his future to Red Bull, writes JONATHAN McEVOY... Mercedes still have plenty to prove

Max Verstappen underlines the truth about his character by committing his future to Red Bull, writes JONATHAN McEVOY...

Mercedes still have plenty to prove Max Verstappen insisted he won't be joining Mercedes for the 2025 season By Jonathan McEvoy Published: 02:00, 28 June 2024 | Updated: 02:00, 28 June 2024 e-mail 14 shares View comments Max Verstappen is a loyal man and not without sensitivity, but in declaring his intention to remain at Red Bull next season he has underlined a fundamental truth about his character. He is the ultimate pragmatist. It is a trait that helps to make him the most ruthless machine of a racing driver imaginable.

You don’t crank out world championship wins by allowing yourself flights of fancy, and joining Mercedes for 2025 would have been exactly that. Yes, the Silver Arrows appear to be finding their way out of the technical labyrinth in which they went dizzy over the past two-and-a-half years. But they remain winless all this season and last, while Red Bull have torched the record books.

Verstappen’s suitors still have plenty to prove on their long journey back on to the high road. It is this fact the Dutchman couldn’t escape in any reckoning of where his immediate future lay, even though there were emotional factors nagging at him, namely the turmoil created by the texting scandal that battered his team principal Christian Horner earlier in the season. Max Verstappen has decided to snub a move to Mercedes and stick it out with Red Bull Th.