Max Verstappen swerved the biggest roll of the dice on the 2025 grid — and, for now, that’s preserving the aura around him.
Alex Brundle reckons Verstappen’s call to stay with Red Bull rather than jump ship was the smart, safer play. Why? Because when the car isn’t the class of the field, Verstappen’s value is being a “professional problem” — the guy who drags more out of an RB21 than it deserves and ruins McLaren’s Sunday plans.
McLaren’s had the run of the place this year with 11 grand prix wins, but Verstappen keeps crashing their party: poles, wins, and needle. His stubborn defence against Oscar Piastri in the Spa Sprint — 15 laps of irritation for the Australian — was classic Max. He’s not in the title fight, 88 points back from Lando Norris, but he is very much in everyone’s mirrors. And that matters.
“He’s just a professional problem,” Brundle said on the Red Flag podcast. “For all of the year.” In other words, even when the championship’s gone, Verstappen’s job is to be the unsolvable variable — slip by Piastri at Imola, lead races in a tricky car, and keep extracting Red Bull’s full, prickly potential.
Brundle’s bigger point is about legacy management. A move that didn’t land — to an unfamiliar team and a car that needed taming — would risk denting “the legend of Max Verstappen.” We’ve seen how hard the switch can be after long marriages: Lewis Hamilton, 12 years a Mercedes man with six titles there, has yet to stand on a Ferrari podium after 14 starts. Carlos Sainz left four years at Ferrari and was widely tipped to put Alex Albon away at Williams; instead, he trails Albon 54–16 on points. The grass rarely looks greener once you’ve jumped the fence.
There’s a counterfactual from Brundle too: if the slump at Red Bull drags on — Hungary was “absolutely torrid,” he noted — and carries through to the next ruleset and into the first half of next season, the edges of Verstappen’s myth would inevitably scuff. He’d still be regarded as one of the greats, but aura is fragile in F1; staying out front, or at least outperforming a handful in a difficult car, keeps it polished.
So Verstappen doubles down on the identity that’s always served him best: the benchmark who makes rivals nervous even on their best days. McLaren may own the headline stats right now, but as long as Verstappen’s turning that RB21 into a nuisance, he’s doing exactly what he needs to — winning the one battle he can control.
