Red Bull picks Tom Hart for Verstappen role

Tom Hart is set to become Max Verstappen’s new Red Bull race engineer after the team reached an agreement with Williams to release him from a prior move to Grove.

The decision gives Red Bull an internal successor to Gianpiero Lambiase rather than forcing Verstappen to adapt to an outside hire. Hart has worked as Verstappen’s performance engineer since January 2020 and has been part of the engineering group through the Dutchman’s run of four straight Formula 1 world titles, making him the continuity choice for one of the most demanding roles on the pit wall.

Hart had agreed to join Williams at the end of 2025 as part of the rebuilding project led by James Vowles. But multiple reports say Red Bull Racing director Laurent Mekies and Vowles reached a compromise that will keep Hart in Milton Keynes and allow him to step into Verstappen’s race-engineer role instead.

That handover is not expected to happen all at once. Lambiase is due to leave Red Bull for McLaren by 2028, but the exact point when he will stop handling Verstappen’s day-to-day race engineering remains unclear. He also continues to serve as head of race engineering for Verstappen and Isack Hadjar, which means Red Bull is expected to reduce his involvement in key meetings and future planning before his final exit.

Several reports indicate Hart is expected to take over the job fully next season and could already stand in for Lambiase at points later this year as part of a phased transition.

For Red Bull, that matters beyond a simple personnel change. Lambiase has been one of the central figures in Verstappen’s rise, and replacing a race engineer with that level of trust is a competitive risk. By promoting Hart, Red Bull is betting that familiarity and an established working relationship will protect operational stability on Verstappen’s side of the garage during a sensitive transition.