PAYBAKU TIME

Verstappen shuns R&R in favour of fitness and technical tweaks

MAX VERSTAPPEN aims to be back to his best today – with a little help from top-quality British engineering.

The reigning champ resumes his quest to make it three world titles on the spin in Baku after a three-week break in which most of his rivals have been soaking up the sun.

But the Dutch ace has shunned the hotspots and the chance to top up his tan by putting in the hard yards.

Atmosphere

The 25-year-old has instead spent time with his British fitness coach – and the engineers at Red Bull’s base in Milton Keynes.

Verstappen has been gushing in his praise of Bradley Scanes (right), the 35-year-old who has become one of the most trusted men within his inner circle. The two met at the Circuit de Catalunya back in 2019 – and they have been working in harmony since then.

Scanes has a varied background in the sport, having also worked with gymnast Max Whitlock as part of Team GB.

When not in Bucks, the team’s director of human performance has been flown out to Monaco to maintain his employer’s fitness regime.

Scanes said: “We understand each other – the atmosphere between us is really great – it’s always relaxed.

“It has to be as F1 is one of the most demanding sports.” It was not unusual in the three-week break between the drivers’ last outing in Australia and their latest race on the banks of the Caspian Sea for teams to be given downtime. All the Red Bull mechanics were given one week’s leave and Mercedes granted race team employees extra rest days.

Verstappen has struggled to shake off a virus that bugged him throughout March.

He reported being below par physically in Jeddah and Melbourne – and so the cancellation of the Chinese Grand Prix could not have come at a better time. But the Dutchman chose to iron out issues in the simulator with the engineers.

He feels humbled by the amount of work undertaken on his behalf and felt it only right that he left his penthouse apartment in Monaco to work with Christian Horner’s staff.

Around 80 of 1,000 regularly travel to the races and those not directly involved have waited for the chance to introduce upgrades to the cars.

Improvements

They usually take around two months to develop and a string of teams, including Alpine and Mclaren, have announced they will be making improvements.

Given Verstappen’s input during the past couple of weeks, it also appears inevitable that leading constructors Red Bull will be doing likewise.

Red Bull’s Sergio Perez beat polesitter Leclerc in the sprint race yesterday with Verstappen third after a collision with George Russell, who was fourth. Lewis Hamilton was seventh.