McLaren Lands Verstappen’s Race Engineer Gianpiero Lambiase
Senior Red Bull figure set to take Chief Racing Officer role no later than 2028.
McLaren Lands Verstappen’s Race Engineer Lambiase Mark Thompson - Getty Images Senior Red Bull figure Gianpiero Lambiase will join McLaren, no later than 2028, as its new Chief Racing Officer. Lambiase, the long-time race engineer of four-time World Champion Max Verstappen, will take on the senior role in support of McLaren Team Principal Andrea Stella. Lambiase is currently contracted to Red Bull through 2027, so any move will not take place until the start of 2028, unless the two parties can reach a severance agreement.
Lambiase has worked in Formula 1 since the mid-2000s, initially for the Silverstone-based outfit Jordan through its various guises into Force India, where he rose to the role of race engineer. Lambiase switched to Red Bull for 2015 and became Verstappen’s race engineer when the Dutchman was parachuted into the team in early 2016. Lambiase and Verstappen have forged an exceptionally close almost brotherly bond across the last decade, together winning four titles, and the development comes at a time when Verstappen—who is contracted to Red Bull through 2028 but with performance clauses—has been openly questioning his F1 future post-2026.
Mark Thompson - Getty Images In a statement, Red Bull outlined that Lambiase will continue in his current roles until the expiration of his contract in 2028. Lambiase is set to be the third member of Red Bull’s senior hierarchy to join McLaren in recent years, after Rob Marshall became Chief Designer in 2024, and Will Courtenay Sporting Director earlier in 2026. It also continues the exodus of leading figures who were with Red Bull during its dominant spree in Formula 1’s ground-effect era.
Design legend Adrian Newey and Sporting Director Jonathan Wheatley both left in 2024, with long-time Team Principal and CEO Christian Horner relieved of his duties mid-2025. Advisor Helmut Marko, previously a close confidant of the late co-founder Dietrich Mateschitz, left at the end of 2025. Red Bull had endured a low-key start to the 2026 campaign, its first as a full works team, and is only sixth in the world championship.