Lambiase to McLaren
Gianpiero Lambiase, Max Verstappen’s race engineer, is leaving Red Bull to join McLaren as Chief Racing Officer by 2028 — a big technical hire that signals McLaren’s push to close the gap with Red Bull. Moving a high‑profile engineer like Lambiase shifts not just talent but institutional know‑how, which could matter during these long gaps in the calendar. (x.com) (x.com)
The voice in Max Verstappen’s ear for a decade is leaving Red Bull for McLaren, but not right away. Gianpiero Lambiase will stay at Red Bull until his current contract ends in 2028, then join McLaren as Chief Racing Officer. (formula1.com) (mclaren.com) That sounds far away, but Formula One teams plan in multi-year blocks, and 2028 sits deep inside the next rules cycle. The Fédération Internationale de l’Automobile rulebook says the current technical regulations start from 2026, so McLaren is hiring for the shape of the next era, not just the next race. (fia.com) (mclaren.com) A race engineer is the person who turns a driver’s lap into decisions about tires, setup, pace, and pit stops over the radio. Lambiase has been Verstappen’s race engineer since Verstappen moved up from Toro Rosso to Red Bull in 2016. (formula1.com) (apnews.com) That pairing has been one of the most successful in the sport. Formula One says Verstappen and Lambiase went through the highs and lows together from 2016 onward, and the Associated Press reports Verstappen won four straight drivers’ titles from 2021 through 2024 with Lambiase on the radio. (formula1.com) (apnews.com) Lambiase is not moving to McLaren to wear a headset for one driver. McLaren said the Chief Racing Officer role already exists inside the team and carries overall leadership of the race team, with those duties currently handled by team principal Andrea Stella on top of his main job. (mclaren.com) So McLaren is buying two things at once: a senior operator and a layer of management time for Stella. The team’s statement says Lambiase will report directly to Stella, which means one of the busiest people in the garage gets a specialist to run the racing side full-time. (mclaren.com) Red Bull is losing more than a familiar radio voice. The Associated Press says Lambiase also serves as Red Bull’s head of racing, so the move strips out a senior figure who sits between strategy, trackside operations, and Verstappen’s side of the garage. (apnews.com) The timing lines up with a period when teams are trying to decode a new car formula. Sky Sports reported this week that Formula One teams were already meeting over possible tweaks to the 2026 rules, especially around energy management, which shows how unsettled the new package still is. (skysports.com) (fia.com) That is why a 2028 start date still hits now. In Formula One, the people who know how to organize weekends, interpret driver feedback, and keep a team calm through bad Fridays and long calendar gaps can shape results before they ever appear on a stopwatch. (mclaren.com) (apnews.com) McLaren’s statement calls the hire part of a long-term push to confirm its place as a championship-winning team. Red Bull’s statement, via Formula One, confirms the split but also makes clear Lambiase remains in place until 2028, so the next two seasons now come with an expiry date on one of the sport’s most important driver-engineer partnerships. (mclaren.com) (formula1.com)
