Max Verstappen ally delivers Lewis Hamilton title fight revelation: 'It was war'

Max Verstappen's former performance coach, Bradley Scanes, has explained the extreme lengths Red Bull and Mercedes personnel went to as the tension of the 2021 F1 championship fight reached its zenith.

Both title battles came down to the wire, with the Dutchman locked into a fierce contest against Lewis Hamilton and the constructors' championship also only secured at the season-ending Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, as Mercedes won its eighth in a row.

Whilst that finale will always be remembered for its controversial outcome, the pressure reached an apex some time before, according to Scanes, who helped Verstappen to his first three drivers' crowns.

Reflecting on that storied campaign, he chronicled the highs and lows he experienced in the Red Bull camp over the final few rounds, as the drivers' championship became increasingly tight.

"2021 is probably the best experience I've ever had," Scanes said on the High Performance Podcast. "I was front row, first-hand watching two greats in the sport go at it

"These weren't [just] two greats of the sport; these two were fighting 20 seconds on the road from everybody else," he added, laughing. "But they were one second between them the entire time."

"Some of those races where you think, 'we're gonna win the championship', then it's like no, back against the ropes now, and we didn't win four of the last five. We were struggling...

"Whatever happened, happened in Abu Dhabi, but both drivers, for sure, deserved to win that title that year. Obviously, I'm biased, and we deserved it more," he said, laughing again.

Despite the contentious conclusion, Scanes explained how the stress of the situation spilt into the paddock and between those working for the two teams.

"But, yeah, it was a lot of pressure. It was intense," he added. "You could cut the tension with a knife in the paddock.

"I remember Brazil... It was Brazil, so three races from the end, and we're obviously next to each other in the garages, next to each other in the hospitality.

"The way the paddocks laid out a little bit, you have to walk past each other, walk past each other's hospitality as well.

"And no one would even look at each other... Red Bull, Mercedes, no one would look at each other, no one would talk to each other.

"You could cut the tension with a knife. And like nowadays, you'd stop and talk to your other half from Mercedes, or guys you knew there. But in those last few races, it was a battle, it was war."