There is the new race engineer for Max Verstappen
Red Bull would have already found the replacement for Gianpiero Lambiase in the role of race engineer for Max Verstappen. This was reported by the always well-informed Dutch journalist Erik Van Haren, who in the Sunday edition of the Telegraaf explained how Laurent Mekies would have obtained a change of mind from Tom Hart, who will therefore remain in Milton Keynes instead of moving to Williams, with the approval also of the team principal of the Grove team, James Vowles.
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According to the Dutch daily, it will indeed be Tom Hart who takes Lambiase’s place at the pit wall, first assisting and then progressively taking over the tasks of the London-born engineer of clear Italian origins. He is a well-known and respected figure within the Red Bull organization as well as particularly appreciated by Verstappen himself, with whom he has directly collaborated for several years in the role of performance engineer.
The change of mind: no Williams, Hart stays at Red Bull
Recently, however, Hart had started working between the two garages, also taking care of the performance of Isack Hadjar‘s car as well as that of the four-time world champion: a more supervisory role while waiting for the move to Williams, which was supposed to happen at the end of this season. Since last December, he had in fact announced to the team his decision to move to Williams to take on the role of race engineer for Alexander Albon, only to change his mind in recent weeks after receiving the offer to replace Gianpiero Lambiase.
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It is therefore expected that Hart will gradually assist and then replace “GP”, who as is known has already accepted the offer from McLaren for the role of Chief Racing Officer starting from the 2028 season, but who will necessarily leave Milton Keynes already in 2027 to observe a period of gardening leave before joining the Woking team. Tom Hart had already replaced Lambiase in the role of race engineer for Max Verstappen during the free practice sessions of the 2024 Imola GP and it is credible that he will do so again and more often until the official changeover.
This is what Mekies was referring to in interviews at the Austrian GP a few weeks ago, when he said that there were some Red Bull engineers who had “changed their mind and decided to stay”. Moreover, according to Van Haren, Tom Hart will remain at Red Bull in his new role even if Verstappen decides to leave the team in the coming months.
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