Max Verstappen says he has "no regrets" choosing to join the Red Bull stable over Mercedes back in 2014.
As a young hot-rod competing in his first year of single-seater racing in European F3, the Dutchman was courted by both companies, who of course now sit at the front of the Formula 1 grid.
The promise of an immediate F1 seat at Toro Rosso led Verstappen to choose Red Bull, but on several occasions since there has been speculation linking him back to Mercedes.
Based on the expectation of a championship-contending car for this season and going forward, Max also committed his future to the Milton Keynes-based team until the end of 2023 at the start of this year.
But in what is the final year he could have become F1's youngest world champion, Verstappen is currently watching on as Mercedes dominate once again.
“If I don’t accept the situation then yes, you’re gonna be really upset and frustrated,” he told The Race back in Silverstone.
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“But there’s no point to be like that. It is what it is at the moment, we are too slow, of course, but I just keep working on and we have to appreciate that when we have a good race which is like third or second.
“You have to be happy with that because that’s the best we can do. And maybe we anyway overachieve by being second. You just have to appreciate what you’re doing at the moment, because it doesn’t make sense to keep being frustrated about not being first."
Yet, it could have been very different for Verstappen had he decided to join the Mercedes young driver program in 2014 and not Red Bull.
“No regrets,” he said to Channel 4 when asked about that.
“I think things need to happen. Bad things need to happen for me to become a better driver. I’m all good so no regrets.
“Obviously the relationship is different now to what it was when I first joined the team.
“Now we have experienced a lot of good and bad things together and that helps us have a stronger connection.
"You could really see that last year [2019] where we had some critical calls. We had some really good communication and we understood each other.
“I don’t even need to look at the data any more because we know exactly what we want.”
As it is, he has still managed to score one win, capitalising on tyre issues for Mercedes to claim the 70th Anniversary Grand Prix.
And after that race, he was compared to seven-time world champion Michael Schumacher by F1 motorsport boss Ross Brawn, who noted how both men had the mental capacity to drive and analyse the race simultaneously.
“It was of course very nice but I don’t like to compare myself to anyone because I’m myself and I’m a different driver,” he told CNN.
“Of course, you can always get some similar attitudes or whatever, or you can get compared sometimes but, from my side, I never do that. I just want to be myself.”
