Lambiase and Verstappen part ways
The move of Gianpiero Lambiase from Red Bull to McLaren effectively leads to the official separation of the historic engineer-driver pair with Max Verstappen. The general impression, however, is that, more than the four-time world champion, the real loser of the surprise announcement is the Milton Keynes team, which thus loses yet another piece of that puzzle of perfect and unrepeatable fits that had led the team to become the protagonist of one of the least contested periods of dominance in racing history. For his part, however, Verstappen seems to have taken Lambiase’s farewell with sportsmanship – who will in any case continue to whisper to him on the radio from the pit wall at least until the end of the 2027 season, assuming the Dutchman remains in the team even in the next championship – and indeed to have directly endorsed the departure of his engineer friend, without any particular opposition.
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And to think that until recently it was Max himself who categorically ruled out a separation from the trusted “GP” (as the technician of Italian origins is affectionately called in the team and in the paddock). Today things are very different, especially since the main background story now is that the same McLaren that Verstappen had snubbed a few years ago during the explicit courtship of Zak Brown, now seems to be becoming a possible destination for the future, even before Lambiase’s arrival in 2028. Meanwhile, Jos Verstappen took it upon himself to speak about the separation of the Verstappen-Lambiase pair, commenting on the news of the day on the sidelines of the shakedown, in Belgium, of the 51st TAC Rally in which he is one of the competitors.
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The background story from Jos
“We have known for a long time that Lambiase would be leaving – said Jos – and we also knew when it would happen. But we still have a year and a half or two to work with him. For Gianpiero this is a huge opportunity and we understood that. In fact, we were the ones who told him he should take it, grab it with both hands.” “Now it will be up to Red Bull to find a replacement for Lambiase, we will see what happens,” concluded Jos Verstappen.
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