No rift in Verstappen camp, says Max's manager

Max Verstappen's manager Raymond Vermeulen has insisted there was no hidden or "special message" in the decision for him and Max's father, Jos, not to attend the Canadian Grand Prix two weeks ago, saying the trio always planned to split up over certain races.

Verstappen's season so far has been marred by a few high profile collisions on-track, but enjoyed a positive weekend in Montreal when he finished third, with the festivities conspicuous by the absence of Jos and Vermeulen.

Speculation mounted as to the reason why Verstappen went to Canada without his entourage, but his manager has shot down any conspiracy theories as to whether there was a problem in the camp.

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

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"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 also looked back on races when Max has performed when they have been around, and insisted that Max does not need a babysitter.

"Max said he had a very good weekend. He was on his own, but still guided by his trainer," Verstappen's manager continued.

"He went to dinner with his Helmut [Marko] or his mechanics, and he just had a race weekend like any other. 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!"