F1
Meet Max Verstappen's inner circle
Natural speed and sublime race craft have taken Max Verstappen to the top in F1, but to become a genuine title contender requires a whole lot more...
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01
Father: Jos Verstappen
Max and his father, Jos
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From the moment Jos Verstappen put his son Max Emilian on a quad bike at the age of two-and-half and behind the wheel of a go-kart at the age of four the former F1 driver has been both tutor and mentor. “I remember after a few laps he went around the entire track flat out. I immediately went and bought a bigger kart,” he recalls. From covering hundreds of thousands of kilometres in a van across a decade of European karting to jumping to the FIA Formula 3 European Championship at the age of 16, to becoming F1’s youngest starter at 17 and youngest winner at age 18, Jos has been there every step of the way. As Max has matured, Verstappen senior has been less front and centre but the Red Bull driver says he still seeks his dad’s advice.
“We still talk about everything in terms of what I am doing throughout the weekend set-up wise and stuff,” says Max. “But I know more and more stuff myself, so our relationship is pretty relaxed now. We still discuss a lot and I really enjoy it. It’s great to have your dad around, especially when he did it himself and understands racing.”
Learn more about the Dutch driver by listening to the Becoming Max Verstappen episode of the Beyond the Ordinary podcast.
02
Partner: Kelly Piquet
Max and Kelly's status became official in a New Year's Instagram post
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After Max’s victory in Monaco in may, Helmut Marko told Autosport. com that the Dutchman had “reached a different level of maturity”. A significant element in that process, though one that isn’t often seen in public, is Verstappen’s settled personal life with Kelly Piquet, the daughter of three-time F1 champion Nelson. Verstappen first publicly revealed their attachment with a New Year’s Instagram post hoping that his followers “find success love and happiness, just as I found mine”. Piquet was among the first to congratulate Max on his Monaco win, rushing into parc fermé to embrace Verstappen as he celebrated victory.
03
Race engineer: Gianpiero Lambiase
Max Verstappen's race engineer Gianpiero Lambiase
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Schooled at the Jordan, Midland/Spyker, Force India squad race engineer Gianpiero guided the ontrack efforts of drivers as diverse as Vitantonio Liuzzi, Paul Di Resta and also this year’s new Red Bull Recruit Sergio Pérez in his time with the Silverstone outfit. He left Force India for Red Bull Racing in 2015 and was initially partnered with Daniil Kvyat. But when the Russian was replaced ahead of the 2016 Spanish Grand Lambiase found himself working with a new, supremely confident and ultra-talented 18-year-old, Max Verstappen. The relationship got off to a winning start in Barcelona where, at the first time of asking with Red Bull Racing, Verstappen took victory to become F1’s youngest ever winner. It’s been a match made in heaven ever since.
“We’re pretty straightforward with each other. Sometimes it can sound like we are pissed off at each other on the radio but I’m not pissed off with him, it’s the situation we are in on the track and you try to make it better. Even after the race, maybe people think we have to apologise to each other but it’s not like that at all. It’s a good relationship and I really enjoy working with him. We want to win and we both want the best result. We are always on top of each other and we push each other forward. We keep each other sharp to try to get a better result.”
04
Performance engineer: Tom Hart
Tom Hart's job is to sift through all the performance data coming in
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What’s the difference between a Race and a Performance Engineer? The Race Engineer is responsible for the overview of his or her driver’s whole weekend, looking at the big picture of run plans, working with the strategists and decision-making on the pit wall during the race, while the Performance Engineer is there to sift through the data and the driver’s feedback in order to build the best race car for the conditions. On Max’s crew that job falls to new boy Tom Hart. Until this year Max’s Performance Engineer was Hugh Bird who has now moved to the other side of the garage to work as Sergio Pérez’s Race Engineer. Hart has stepped into the role on Max’s side of the garage.
“It’s working really well. It always needs a bit of time to settle in but I would say straight from the start Tom is doing a great job. He’s very social as well; he can be pretty funny. He’s not a total nerd! He’s very clever and he knows what I want from the car and he is very quick in finding solutions when I have little issues.”
05
Red Bull motorsport advisor: Helmut Marko
The one and only Dr Helmut Marko
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A famously hard taskmaster, Dr Helmut Marko, through the Red Bull Junior Programme, has been in large part responsible for bringing exceptional talents such as Sebastian Vettel, Daniel Ricciardo and Carlos Sainz to Formula 1. Marko brought Verstappen to the programme from Formula 3 in August 2014 and within days revealed that the 16-year-old would drive for Toro Rosso in 2015. Since then the two have developed a deep alliance, which Max insists is founded in plain-speaking simplicity.
“Helmut is like a father to me, yes,” says Verstappen. “He says what he thinks and is always straightforward and I like that. With him there are no bull**** stories. That rapport with Marko is just very good and the one with Christian too. We’ve been through so much over the years. We get on well together.”
06
Performance coach: Bradley Scanes
Physio and performance coach Bradley Scanes with Max Verstappen
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Another relatively new arrival to Max’s team is physio and performance coach Bradley Scanes. The Englishman, who also works as a consultant to British Gymnastics, took over the role from Max’s previous trainer Jake Aliker in early 2020 and since then has worked closely with the Red Bull driver to keep him in top shape for the season.
“My wife will say I spend more time with Max than with her,” he says. “But it’s going well in our marriage.
“It is really important to be in good shape,” he adds. “If not, it can cost you lap time on track. If in the final laps of a race you are getting fatigued, it can affect you mentally, which can have consequences.” Not that the championship contender is a huge fan of training. “Max doesn’t really have favourites. Training isn’t his biggest hobby, that’s driving a car. But he knows that he has to, and Max is very disciplined. If he has to choose, he’d prefer going for a run and working with weights on his balcony.”
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