Manager Verstappen: "There's no role for Jos and me there".
General
- GPblog.com
A striking first for Max Verstappen in Austria this weekend during the first Grand Prix of this F1 season. For the first time the Dutchman will drive a race at which both his father and his manager will not be present. Raymond Vermeulen describes the paddock situation as a military operation.
The coronavirus has kicked F1 to postpone the start of the season for months and delete parts of the calendar. In Austria it is now possible to start this weekend, provided some important rules are taken into account. The biggest consequences of these rules are that a lot less people are welcome.
Both fans and journalists (with the exception of a few) are not allowed, which is why Max Verstappen will not be able to count on the support of manager Raymond Vermeulen or father Jos Verstappen. Vermeulen describes the situation on the paddock opposite De Limburger: "It's almost a military operation.
Verstappen in his own bubble
Vermeulen continues: "There's no role for Jos and me there anymore. You can't follow the training because you can't get to the pit garage. Everything is carefully shielded; everyone is and remains in their own bubble and contact with people from other teams is also impossible".
The latter will not be entirely unfavourable to the teams. Especially the larger teams like Mercedes and Ferrari often try to hide new updates on the grid by making it impossible for the competition to have a look in the garage.
If during the season the regulations are loosened again Jos and Vermeulen will show themselves more often along the track. In the meantime Bradley Scanes will be present alongside Max every race. Scanes succeeds Jake Alliker as personal trainer of the Dutch Red Bull driver.