Racing
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Max Verstappen says Red Bull will handle the replacement of Gianpiero Lambiase step by step, with the four-time world champion already having a preferred successor in mind from within the team as the engineer’s 2028 move to McLaren approaches.
Speaking to Viaplay, Verstappen said the process has not started yet, even though he has clear ideas about who should eventually take over. “It will go step by step. I do have ideas about who I want. He is also around within the team, so it will just happen gradually,” Verstappen said.
For now, Lambiase remains in place alongside Verstappen through the end of the 2027 Formula 1 season, but Verstappen made clear Red Bull does not expect an abrupt handover. “At the moment, not yet. I think it is still a little too early for that,” he said. “Of course, it is logical that at some point, somewhere at the end of the year, that will slowly change.”
That shift carries unusual weight for Red Bull because Lambiase has been Verstappen’s race engineer for more than a decade, a partnership that has delivered four world championships. Replacing a race engineer is not a routine personnel move when the role sits so close to the driver and shapes communication, setup direction and race execution.
The transition is also complicated by Lambiase’s destination. With Red Bull’s Head of Racing joining rival team McLaren in 2028, Verstappen acknowledged that the normal flow of information cannot remain the same indefinitely. “At some point, of course, less information will be shared,” he said. “I think he understands that himself.”
Red Bull now has to balance two demands at once: preserving Verstappen’s working rhythm with Lambiase through 2027 while gradually preparing an internal replacement and tightening the exchange of sensitive data before one of the team’s most important engineers leaves for a direct competitor.