Verstappen manager downplays driver's lack of entourage in Canada

Raymond Vermeulen who, along with Jos Verstappen, looks after Max Verstappen's interests, played down suggestions that the pair's absence in Montreal was beneficial to the Red Bull driver.

Verstappen agreed with his team to travel light to Canada after a string of mishaps called into question the 20-year-old's ability to focus and learn from his mistakes. He subsequently showed up alone in Canada, with neither his manager or father in tow, and put in a productive weekend of racing.

Vermeulen insists however that his absence in Montreal had been scheduled at the outset of the 2018 season.

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"Already at the start of the season we made an internal plan about which grands prix we would attend," he told Motorsport.com.

"There was an idea discussed together with the team to have Max on his own for a race.

"So we said 'OK, let's do it for Canada.' So that was the whole story. There will be some more races where Max will be on his own, but that was already in the pipeline.

"We have a very good relationship, we discuss everything together with Red Bull. It was a try-out, the first race Max was on his own, but no special message behind that.

"It's also part of his development that he doesn't need someone around every race," added the manager.

"For example, I'm here this weekend, Jos is coming to Austria and I'll be there too, at Silverstone Max is on his own, Jos is going to Hungary, and at Spa we will be together."

Vermeulen pushed back on the notion that Max's flawless weekend in Montreal had anything to do with a lack of entourage.

"Max said he had a very good weekend. He was on his own, but still guided by his trainer. He went to dinner with his Helmut [Marko] or his mechanics, and he just had a race weekend like any other," explained Vermeulen.

"I don't think there was a big difference. At 20 years old I think he's old enough to go to a track on his own! It's not a big thing.

"Of course this is getting a dimension now because the performance was there, and there were some comments in the press.

"But in the past he had podiums when I was here or Jos was here, so the performance was also there when we were around!"

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