- Verstappen faces life without trusted ally; Gianpiero Lambiase is set to join McLaren.
- McLaren’s beat out rivals Williams and Aston Martin for the engineer’s signature.
- Lambiase’s exit raises fresh questions about Verstappen’s Red Bull future.
Max Verstappen is set to lose the man he calls his friend. Gianpiero Lambiase, the race engineer who has stood beside the four-time world champion through every title victory, every bitter defeat and every fraught radio exchange, is reportedly heading to McLaren when his Red Bull contract expires at the end of 2027.
Dutch newspaper De Limburger broke the story, with De Telegraaf’s Erik van Haren subsequently confirming it. Red Bull and McLaren have both declined to comment.
The departure is the latest, and arguably the most painful, in a long line of key exits from the Milton Keynes outfit.
But this one cuts differently. This is the one person Verstappen trusts most inside Red Bull.
Who is Gianpiero Lambiase?
Lambiase was born on Oct. 14, 1980, in Bedford, England, to Italian parents. He is, in many ways, a product of the sport’s lower rungs.
He graduated from University College London with a degree in Mechanical Engineering and joined Jordan Grand Prix in 2005 as a data engineer.
For the next 11 years, he stayed with that same team through its many name changes, from Midland to Spyker to Force India, learning the sport from the inside out.
By 2014, he had risen to race engineer and was working with Sergio Perez. A strong season there caught the attention of Red Bull, and the move that would define his career followed.
The path to Verstappen, though, was not straightforward. Former Red Bull team principal Christian Horner revealed that Sebastian Vettel himself had a hand in bringing Lambiase to the senior team.
Vettel interviewed Lambiase as a replacement for Guillaume Rocquelin. But before the partnership could begin, Vettel announced his departure to Ferrari.
Lambiase was assigned first to Daniil Kvyat. Then, in 2016, Kvyat was demoted mid-season, and a teenager named Max Verstappen arrived from Toro Rosso.
The rest, as they say, followed.
A decade at Verstappen’s side
The 2016 Spanish Grand Prix was Verstappen’s first race for Red Bull. He won it at just 18 years old. Lambiase was on the other end of the radio.
What began that afternoon in Barcelona became one of the most successful driver-engineer partnerships in the history of the sport. Together, they claimed four drivers’ world championship titles.
Together, they endured the narrow, gut-wrenching loss to Lando Norris at the 2025 Abu Dhabi finale, where Verstappen fell short by just two points.
It was after that race in Abu Dhabi that Verstappen spoke most openly about what Lambiase means to him. “I see him as my friend,” Verstappen said. “We have lived through so many emotional things together and fantastic achievements.”
He added, “I’m really looking forward to leaving here and catching up with him because it’s not been easy at times for him.”
Those words reveal something that race results alone cannot. The bond between Verstappen and Lambiase is built on shared pressure and shared feeling, not just lap times and strategy calls.
Horner, who watched the partnership develop from its earliest days, once described the pair as being “like an old married couple.” But he also understood the weight of the role Lambiase occupies.
“To be Verstappen’s engineer, you have to stand firm,” Horner said. “Many engineers would fail under this pressure, but ‘GP’ is excellent at handling it, both in his attitude and communication style.”
That ability to hold his ground, to absorb the intensity Verstappen brings to every session and push back when necessary, is what makes Lambiase so difficult to replace.
The McLaren deal and what it means
McLaren did not stumble into the decision to hire Lambiase. According to RacingNews365, the Woking-based outfit has put together a multi-million-pound deal for Lambiase, one that significantly exceeds his current salary at Red Bull.
Williams and Aston Martin had both been linked with moves for him at the end of last year. McLaren won that race.
The financial scale of the offer tells its own story. McLaren, now the reigning constructors’ champions, is investing heavily in the people who can help sustain that advantage.
Signing the engineer who helped build Verstappen’s dynasty is a statement of intent.
There is also a longer game being played here. Sources indicate McLaren sees Lambiase as a possible successor to team principal Andrea Stella, who is internally linked with a return to Ferrari.
If Stella does eventually head to Maranello, Lambiase could step into the top job at McLaren, completing a career journey that started at the back of the grid with Jordan.
It would be a remarkable arc, from data engineer to team principal in two decades.
Verstappen’s future and the bigger picture
The question that now hangs over the paddock is straightforward. If Lambiase is gone after 2027, does Verstappen want to stay?
Verstappen has made a series of hints about his future since the start of the 2026 season. The Lambiase news will only sharpen those questions.
Once, reflecting on their relationship, Verstappen said of his engineer:
“Yes, I could call him in the middle of the night if I needed to.” That kind of trust is not something you rebuild quickly with someone new.
Lambiase stays at Red Bull through 2026 and into 2027. Verstappen will still have his closest ally in the garage for now. But the clock is already running.
What happens in 2028, whether Verstappen is still racing, and whether Red Bull can hold itself together through another wave of rebuilding, is one of the biggest open questions in Formula 1 right now.
