Market coup
The news that is destined to cause a huge shake-up in the Formula 1 paddock was published this morning by the Dutch outlets De Telegraaf and De Limburger: Giampiero Lambiase will leave Red Bull to join McLaren, where he has reportedly been promised the role of team principal in place of Andrea Stella, who is said to be leaving Woking and perhaps destined for a sensational return to Ferrari. But in all this, what will become of Max Verstappen?
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Last September, in a video interview released on the Red Bull team’s social channels, the Dutchman expressed himself in these terms regarding his track engineer, with whom the relationship over the years has evolved from professional to a true and very close friendship: “If you told me now that I have to change race engineers, I think it would be very difficult to accept, precisely because I have a great relationship with my engineer – commented the four-time world champion – I almost don’t need to speak because he knows exactly what I need or what I want from the car. And I think you can hear that over the radio too. Of course, every now and then we exchange some heated comments, but I think that in reality [things] work really well for us. In the most difficult situations in the race, we always manage to get the most out of it“.
Retirement, staying at Red Bull or…
The Dutchman is already very tempted, by his own admission, to leave Red Bull and F1 in general because of these new technical regulations that he doesn’t like at all. Lambiase’s departure could represent a further push in this direction and convince him to dedicate himself completely to other categories. It should be remembered that Verstappen has an agreement with Red Bull valid until the end of the 2028 season, but clauses in his contract could almost certainly allow him to break free as early as the end of this year.
Read more From the Netherlands: Andrea Stella linked with a return to Ferrari
Of course, last year in some races Verstappen did not have Lambiase by his side (the Italian-British engineer was absent for personal reasons) and he still got along very well with the replacement Simon Rennie. Therefore, the possibility that #3 might decide to try to continue his career at Red Bull – or perhaps in another team, changing scenery completely – with another engineer by his side is not to be ruled out.
The option – this one truly explosive – of a transfer to McLaren for Max himself seems less likely at the moment. Both the Dutchman and Zak Brown had admitted to contact between the parties during the winter of 2024 but it ended in nothing. Furthermore, both Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri have existing contracts with the Woking team until the end of the 2028 season. What is certain is that in this crazy F1 market, no solution can be categorically excluded at the moment.
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