Verstappen’s former sports coach ‘didn’t know F1’
Max Verstappen’s former sports coach Bradley Scanes reveals he knew nothing about F1 before working with the Dutch driver. He also didn’t know Verstappen, and explains how he prepared to adapt to the physical preparations of Formula 1.
“Before starting to work with Max, I didn’t really know about sports vehicles and Formula 1” Scanes said. “I didn’t even know who Max Verstappen was.”
“I did a lot of Googling to research and keep up to date with everything. I knew Hamilton was successful, but that was about it. The first F1 road I looked at was in the storage Crimson Bull with the mechanics.”
“In December 2019, I met Max and in the second week of January, I started working with him. Meanwhile, the whole month of December, I watched and read everything that was happening in bulk on F1. Everything I could think of.”
An overnight call
Scanes was quickly called in to strengthen the team, and he is amused to see how demanding Verstappen’s entourage was when he was invited to work with the driver.
“I spoke to several people around him and was told I had to fly to Barcelona the next day to meet him. ‘Wait, I have 15 patients tomorrow!’ After some shuffling I left for Barcelona, that’s all I had to do.”
“So I took the plane to Barcelona, where Max was on the circuit testing GT cars. His whole family was there: his girlfriend, his father and his friends. It was very open, we discovered what we expected from each other and we hit it off right away.”
“We talked about football and other action sports. I didn’t think I’d get the job, but I thought I’d give it a try. I told Max ‘I already have a world title in pocket, how to get one, how to build more and how to make it move forward. I think he liked it!”
The coach explains how he got on well with Verstappen, and the qualities required to work with the three-time world champion: “Being easy-going, being honest and yell, being trustworthy, being trusty.”
“That defines the Verstappens and the group around them. Everyone says the Dutch are very direct, but in top sport you have to be open, you have to be honest with the others there. So I was already used to that.”
Scanes has now left Verstappen’s entourage, and laments the length of the seasons, as he “Now focus on spending time with my family, given the ever busier F1 schedule”.
