Racing
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Red Bull says Gianpiero Lambiase will remain with the team for the next two years before joining McLaren in 2028, with team principal Laurent Mekies insisting Max Verstappen’s long-time race engineer is not already halfway out the door despite his agreed move to a direct rival.
Mekies told Sky F1 that Red Bull plans to keep Lambiase through the end of his current contract. “We have ‘GP’ with us for the next two years,” he said. “We don’t feel as GP has left already, because we know he has a long-term agreement with us, and we have a few more wins and battles to win together.”
That stance matters because Lambiase has been one of Red Bull’s central trackside figures since joining in 2015, and has worked as Verstappen’s race engineer since their winning debut together at the 2016 Spanish Grand Prix. Since 2025, he has also served as Red Bull’s head of racing. McLaren has confirmed he will join its reigning world champion operation as chief racing officer no later than 2028, supporting team principal Andrea Stella on race weekends.
Rather than frame the loss as a rupture, Mekies described the move as a long-running and amicable process. He said Red Bull had been discussing the situation with Lambiase “for a very long time” and called the McLaren role a rare chance. “It’s an extraordinary opportunity. We respect the fact that this kind of opportunity comes only once in a lifetime,” Mekies said. “We only wish him well in that next phase.”
He also made clear Red Bull sees the delay before Lambiase leaves as something it can manage internally. When the time comes, Mekies said, the team will “make sure we turn that to an opportunity for people and for the skillset we want to have in.”
Mekies was equally firm on Lambiase’s commitment in the meantime. “GP is a fantastic professional, and we know he’s going to give the absolute best,” he said. “And of course, we are going to keep him.”
Verstappen was not blindsided by the decision. Mekies said the driver had been “fully in the loop” throughout because Red Bull and Verstappen “speak pretty much daily,” adding that Verstappen knew “the full extent of the discussions we were having with GP.” He said the four-time world champion remains embedded in the project, not standing back from it: “He’s inside with us pulling.”
Verstappen himself has publicly backed Lambiase’s choice. Speaking to Viaplay, the Red Bull driver said his engineer would have been “stupid not to take it” and revealed he actively encouraged him to accept. “He told me that he wanted to hear it from me, and I said: ‘100 percent you should just do it,’” Verstappen said.
He said the offer made sense beyond the title of the role itself. “It is an incredible chance for him, not only because of the role itself, but also for his future. You also have to think about his family and long-term security,” Verstappen said. He added that their shared record would not be diminished by the move: “We have already achieved everything together, and more than once. We’ve won a lot, nothing will change about that.”
Lambiase’s switch also continues McLaren’s recent run of senior hires from Red Bull. He will become the third high-ranking figure to move across after Rob Marshall and Will Courtenay. Red Bull’s message, though, is that this one is not an immediate loss but a managed transition, with two more seasons in which one of its key pitwall voices remains in place while the team prepares for the handover.