The Italian Gianpiero Lambiase, career engineer of the Dutch quadruple Formula 1 world champion Max Verstappen, He will leave his position at the end of 2027advertisement Red Bulland “when your current contract expires” you will put heading towards McLarencurrent constructors’ champion and team of the drivers’ monarch, Lando Norris. The news is surprising, since it was not on the radar, and it has a great impact these days due to a situation that concerns ‘MadMax’ himself.
The champion of 2021, 2022, 2023 and 2024 He feels very unhappy with the new F. 1 models and is serious about leaving the top category of motorsport. He achieved his first world championship at 24. And his fourth at 27. Now, at 28 years old, he has 71 victories, only behind Lewis Hamilton (105) and Michael Schumacher (91) on the all-time list. But it lost enthusiasm since the entry into force of new technical regulations that profoundly modified the cars, with engines made up of 53% the thermal part and 46% the electric part.
“Lambiase is a highly valued member of the teamwhich he joined in 2015. Until his planned departure, he will continue to perform his duties as competition director and race engineer for Max Verstappen,” indicated the Austrian team.
Gianpiero played a fundamental role alongside MadMax being his radio interlocutor during the race weekends since the driver’s arrival at the team, which occurred in 2016. It was Lambiase who informed, consulted, encouraged and congratulated Verstappen by audio from the box to the car. It still is, even. And it will still be so for just over a year and a half. Together they have won the four world crowns of the dream team who dominated the category in 2022 and 2023, including 21 wins in 22 races in the latter of those two years.
A few minutes after Red Bull’s statement, McLaren announced the arrival “no later than 2028” of the engineering engineer. 45 years as career operations directorunder the responsibility of the team director, the Italian Andrea Stella. This departure of the Italian represents a new blow for Red Bullwhich has already seen several of its star managers leave in recent months: the English Adrian Newey and Jonathan Wheatley and the Austrian advisor Helmut Marko.
In addition, the historic director of the team, the Englishman Christian Hornerwas removed in July 2025 and replaced by French Laurent Mekieswho until then directed Racing Bulls, the brand’s B team that is experiencing a complicated start to the season.
After three grand prix, Red Bull occupies the fifth position in the classification among the eleven builderswith 16 points, behind mercedes, Ferrari, McLaren and haas and at the same time Alpine. And during April he works to bridge differences and solve problems, waiting for the resumption of the championship, which will take place the first weekend of May in Miami, after the cancellations due to the conflict in the Middle East of the dates in Bahrain and Saudi Arabia.
In that context, Verstappen is ninth among the 22 drivers, with 12 points, and his partner, the French Isaac Hadjarwho arrived this season from Racing Bulls, occupies the twelfth place, with 4, in a table that the Italian leads with 72 Kimi Antonelliwinner of the last two competitions, in China and Japan, with Mercedes.
