Max Verstappen knew he would receive a\u00a0\u20ac50,000 fine from the FIA for touching the rear wing of Lewis Hamilton\u2019s Mercedes in parc ferme at the 2021 Brazilian Grand Prix.<\/p>\n
Yet he did so anyway in order to apply \u201cpressure\u201d on Red Bull\u2019s rivals at a critical stage in the title fight, Verstappen\u2019s former performance coach Bradley Scanes has claimed.<\/p>\n
Max Verstappen \u2018knew\u2019 he would get\u00a0\u20ac50,000 fine in Lewis Hamilton title battle<\/p>\n
Verstappen secured his first of four consecutive World Championships in 2021 after a bitter fight with Hamilton, then of Mercedes.<\/p>\n
Hamilton was denied a record-breaking eighth title at the infamous decider in Abu Dhabi, where he was overtaken by Verstappen on the final lap of the season following the controversial handling of a late Safety Car restart.<\/p>\n
The Abu Dhabi race came just weeks after Hamilton enjoyed a run of three consecutive victories, starting in Brazil where he recovered from being disqualified from qualifying \u2013 a result of a rear-wing infringement \u2013 to win the race.<\/p>\n
Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton: The best of enemies<\/p>\n
\ud83d\udc49\u00a0Before 2021: What Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen said before F1 relationship turned sour<\/a><\/p>\n \ud83d\udc49\u00a0Revealed: The three rules introduced by the FIA because of Max Verstappen<\/a><\/p>\n After making up 15 places in the sprint race at Interlagos, Hamilton was forced to serve a five-place grid drop ahead of the main event due to a gearbox change.<\/p>\n Starting 10th on race day, the Mercedes driver launched a second recovery drive in the space of 24 hours to pass Verstappen and claim an important win.<\/p>\n Verstappen touched Hamilton\u2019s rear wing in parc ferme after qualifying at Interlagos, with the Red Bull driver handed a\u00a0\u20ac50,000 fine for the offence.<\/p>\n Appearing on the High Performance podcast, Scanes, who served as Verstappen\u2019s performance coach between 2019 and 2023, claimed Verstappen\u2019s offence was a pre-meditated act intended to pile pressure on Mercedes.<\/p>\n Scanes said: \u201cBrazil is a good example [of the mind games] where Max went behind the Mercedes rear wing and was giving it a good feel.<\/p>\n \u201cThat was measured: he knew he was going to get a \u20ac50k fine and no impact on track.\u201d<\/p>\n Asked if Verstappen had spoken about it before he touched the Mercedes rear wing, he added: \u201cNot [with] me personally, but in the team it was discussed.\u201d<\/p>\n Mercedes clarified after Hamilton\u2019s disqualification that the rear-wing infringement was caused by a broken component.<\/p>\n And Scanes argued that Verstappen\u2019s fine was \u201chelpful\u201d in terms of piling pressure on Mercedes as the 2021 title race reached it crescendo.<\/p>\n He added: \u201cEven if nothing happened, [it would have been worth it].<\/p>\n \u201cI think there was a change. For the last two races, they couldn\u2019t run that particular wing, so that was helpful in its own sense because they absolutely ran away with that Brazil race.<\/p>\n \u201cBut even if nothing happened, that would have just shifted the focus, put a little bit of pressure in the media on them.<\/p>\n \u201cObviously the games between Toto [Wolff] and Christian [Horner] were always clear to see in the media.<\/p>\n \u201cBut then backstage, [in the] cooldown rooms between Max and Lewis or even Angela [Cullen, Hamilton\u2019s trainer], [we] would kind of try and have a have a little go as well.\u201d<\/p>\n More on Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton<\/p>\n \ud83d\udc49 Max Verstappen news<\/a><\/p>\n