Hamilton's coach saw furious Verstappen: 'Are you going to kill someone or what?

20:11, 26 Aug

Updated: 20:41, 26 Aug

byCas van de Kleut

According to Max Verstappen's former trainer and physio, Bradley Scanes, one of the very few low F1 points for the Dutchman came after the 2021 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix.

Following the first-ever chaotic Saudi Arabian GP, Verstappen and his title rival Lewis Hamilton were once again level on points.

Just three races earlier, the Red Bull driver had held a nineteen-point lead over the seven-time world champion. With the championship set to be decided in Abu Dhabi, both drivers headed into the final race weekend tied.

Max Verstappen in 2025 - Red Bull Contentpool

Furious Verstappen was asked if he was 'going to murder someone'

Although Verstappen eventually won the world title, there was a moment after the race in Jeddah that was very difficult, Scanes explained in the High Performance podcast: ''There was three incidences between Max and Lewis, coming together and we'd gone into the cool down room after that race.''

''So it was P1, us P2, and I remember Angela [Cullen], who was Lewis's performance coach. Me and her (are) very good friends now, we've worked together over the last year or so. But I remember her not shouting, but forcefully saying something towards me and Max, like, 'are you going to get someone killed out there or something like that?'

''Then them two just went off into a different room, got changed, and we were just kind of left. I can't remember who was P3, but they were just kind of sitting there thinking, what is going on here?''

Finally, Scanes talked about what he did after that race to help Verstappen. They stayed in the Middle East, preparing for the decisive race in Abu Dhabi: ''Initially Max didn't want to do that. He wanted to get home, spend time with friends and family preparing that way, because that is the way he really kind of unloads.''

''But in terms of performance, it was like, 'No we're not, we're not going to fly six hours through the night, then to fly back'.

''So it took a little bit of persuading on that, but we needed to just recenter, and get ourselves ready for what's to be the final race of the season.''