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Max Verstappen’s former performance coach Bradley Scanes reveals the Dutch driver has ‘deliberately’ broken the rules in 2021 fight with Lewis Hamilton.
Back in 2021, ahead of the Sao Paulo Grand Prix, Max Verstappen was filmed in parc fermé touching the rear wing on Lewis Hamilton’s Mercedes W12, which is not allowed. For this the Dutch driver received a $50,000 fine.
Now, Verstappen’s former performance coach Bradley Scanes reveals the action was “deliberate” and discussed within Red Bull.
“Brazil was a good example [of mind games],” Scanes said on the High Performance podcast.
“Max went behind the Mercedes rear wing and was giving it a good feel. That was measured. He knew he was going to get a 50k fine and no impact on track.
“[He had] not [spoken with] me personally, but within the team it was discussed.”
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“Even if nothing happened [regarding Mercedes’ rear wing, it would have been worth it]. I think there was a change, so for the last two races, they couldn’t run that particular wing.
“So that was helpful in its own sense, because they absolutely ran away with that Brazil race. But even if nothing happened, that would have just shifted the focus, put a little bit of pressure in the media on them.”
Scanes added this incident just one of the off-track tactics being employed by both teams in 2021.
“Obviously the games between Toto [Wolff, Mercedes team boss] and Christian [Horner, Red Bull team boss at the time] were always clear to see in the media.
“But, then backdoors or backstage as it were, cool down rooms after between Max and Lewis, or even Angela [Cullen, Hamilton’s performance coach], would kind of try and have a have a little go as well,” he concluded..
