The Lambiase Coup
The McLaren team has become a major protagonist during this long spring break of F1, which, with the cancellation of the Bahrain and Saudi Arabia Grands Prix, found itself without scheduled races in April. The Woking team has indeed surprisingly announced the signing from Red Bull for the 2028 season (at the latest) of Max Verstappen’s historic race engineer, Gianpiero Lambiase. The Italo-English engineer, who for a decade has ‘whispered’ in the ears of the four-time Dutch world champion, will become the Chief Racing Officer of the team in papaya, a role currently included in the duties of team principal Andrea Stella but which will be ‘split off’ for the occasion.
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The announcement of Lambiase’s future team change has generated chain rumors, fueled especially by the Dutch media, according to which Stella himself was close to leaving the Woking team to make a sensational return to Ferrari as team principal. A suggestion that quickly deflated following denials from all the protagonists involved.
Stella silences the rumors
Speaking on the official McLaren team channel, the Italian team principal wanted to personally respond, between annoyed and ironic, to these market rumors that had him leaving the team which, under his leadership, has brought Formula 1 back to the top after many difficult years: “Honestly, some of the recent rumors, including those about astronomical salaries and alleged pre-contracts, made me smile,” Stella commented.
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“It almost seems that the ‘silly season’, which usually starts before summer, has arrived early. By now I am quite used to this kind of thing and I take it with a smile. It almost seems that some jealous baker tried to ruin the preparation of a good dessert at the McLaren pastry shop. However, we know very well how to distinguish the good ingredients from the poisoned cookies…,” the Orvieto manager declared.
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