McLaren urges earlier Red Bull exit from Lambiase

McLaren is reportedly in talks with Red Bull to have Gianpiero Lambiase leave for Woking earlier. The team from Milton Keynes is meanwhile already preparing Max Verstappen’s new race engineer Tom Hart.

According to sources around the team, McLaren wants Lambiase to start earlier at the British racing team. That could mean Verstappen will have to miss his trusted race engineer for up to three race weekends at the end of the F1 season.

Earlier this year it was confirmed that Lambiase will leave Red Bull by 2028 at the latest to join McLaren. There he will take on the role of chief racing officer and will work under team principal Andrea Stella.

Lambiase has been Verstappen’s regular race engineer at Red Bull for many years. Together they experienced the most important years of the Dutchman’s career, including his world titles.

Tom Hart

From next season, Tom Hart is to become Verstappen’s regular race engineer. Red Bull is currently preparing the Brit for that role. Sources around the team report that Hart will take charge of communication with Verstappen during three full race weekends in 2026: in Austin, Brazil, and Las Vegas.

McLaren CEO Zak Brown is said to have started talks with Red Bull team principal Laurent Mekies about an earlier start date for Lambiase. It is now expected that Lambiase will no longer be working for Red Bull in 2027. This could mean Verstappen may have to say goodbye to his trusted race engineer earlier than expected.

Red Bull has meanwhile already filled part of the resulting gap within management. The team recently confirmed the arrival of Tom McCullough as the new head of the race department. The Brit comes from Aston Martin and will take over part of Lambiase’s responsibilities within the structure under Mekies.

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Translated from

Laurens van Hoepen fights his way to the podium in F2 sprint race at Madring