Racing
© Jonathan Borba
Tom Hart is set to remain at Red Bull and take over from GianPiero Lambiase as Max Verstappen’s race engineer from the 2027 Formula 1 season, a move that has also ended Williams’ attempt to bring him in for Alex Albon.
Hart had been expected to join Williams as Albon’s next race engineer, with James Urwin moving into a factory-based role next year. But the plan changed after Red Bull moved to keep Hart in Milton Keynes and prepare him as Lambiase’s successor on Verstappen’s side of the garage.
Albon was the first to confirm publicly that Hart would not be making the switch. The Williams driver said: "We obviously went for Tom. I think Tom's a great guy, a great engineer, but we've also got ideas in place."
He added that Williams must now continue its search for Urwin’s replacement. "James, my current race engineer, he's going to go more towards a factory-based role, which I think he's going to be amazing at, and for us it's now just trying to find someone who we can kind of take that process on take the engineering role from James next year," Albon said.
Lambiase’s eventual departure created the opening. McLaren announced in April that Verstappen’s long-time race engineer, who has worked with him since 2016 and also serves as Red Bull’s head of racing, will join the team as chief racing officer no later than 2028.
That made Hart a logical internal successor. He joined Red Bull in 2012 after a stint as a political researcher and rose to performance engineer ahead of the 2020 season. He has worked closely with Verstappen for several years and has already deputised for Lambiase, including during practice at the 2024 Emilia Romagna Grand Prix. Reports have also said he has been building further race-engineer experience in recent tests and could stand in again later this season to help smooth the handover.
Red Bull team principal Laurent Mekies had already hinted that the team was fighting to stop staffing losses after Lambiase’s future move became public. Speaking about the rumors around Red Bull personnel, Mekies said: "If I look at the names that have been circulating in the last few months, most of them are still in the garage. Some had never wanted to leave, some have changed their mind and are staying with us."
For Red Bull, promoting Hart would secure continuity around Verstappen at a time when one of the most important engineer-driver pairings in Formula 1 is heading for change. For Williams, the same decision leaves Albon’s team still needing to fill a key trackside role before next season.