In his first title fight in 2021, Max Verstappen didn’t just defend his position on the track. Off the track, games were also being played, reveals Bradley Scanes, the Dutch Formula 1 driver’s performance coach at the time. Scanes reflects on that thrilling season and reveals how Verstappen tried to cunningly rattle his rival Lewis Hamilton.
According to Scanes, psychological games were also played after the various Grands Prix in 2021. “One of the funniest things was the time it took Max (Verstappen) to get ready,” the Brit said in an episode of the High Performance podcast. “When I first started working with him, the top three would always go to the cool-down room after the race. Lewis (Hamilton) always took his time there; he wanted to fully change and do his hair. Max, on the other hand, wanted to freshen up as quickly as possible or just go to the press conference in his racing suit.”
‘We are now in charge’
This pattern began to irritate Verstappen, Scanes revealed. Where Hamilton often kept others waiting, Red Bull turned the tables. “As the season progressed, we started to change every part of Max’s equipment,” Scanes grinned. “You could see that Verstappen really started to take his time – we changed absolutely everything, which eventually made Hamilton wait for us.”
For Scanes, this was symbolic of Verstappen and Red Bull’s power grab in the championship. “It was simply a show of power,” he concluded. “We were basically saying, ‘We’re not waiting for you anymore, the baton has been passed and we are now in charge.'”
