Gianpiero Lambiase, the race engineer and right-hand man of Max Verstappen at Red Bull, will leave for McLaren as of 2028. Both teams confirmed this on Thursday. Lambiase is thus the latest Red Bull key figure to leave the team. At the end of last year, top advisor Helmut Marko already opted for his long-awaited retirement. Nevertheless, the 82-year-old Austrian still keeps a close eye on the team. He calls Lambiase’s future departure ‘a great loss’.
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This week it was announced that Helmut Marko will become an ambassador for the Red Bull Ring, the setting of the Austrian GP in Styria. There, he was naturally asked about the news surrounding Gianpiero Lambiase. Red Bull is losing not only star driver Max Verstappen’s race engineer, but also its head of racing. “That is indeed a great loss,” said Marko in a conversation with ORF. “Those two were like an old married couple,” he referred to Verstappen and Lambiase. “They also had their discussions and disagreements.”
Feared duo
Few duos are as acclaimed as the Dutchman and the British-Italian engineer. Consequently, the announcement that Lambiase will leave at the end of 2027 reignited the discussion about Verstappen’s future. Old interviews, in which the Red Bull driver declares that he only wants to race in Formula 1 with Lambiase by his side, went viral very quickly.
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Helmut Marko is also aware that ‘GP’ plays a key role within the Red Bull machine. “He was always a very important factor in the development and setup of the car,” the Austrian explained. “In doing so, he also went his own way and did not always choose the same direction as the rest of the technical team.” Nevertheless, Marko is confident that Red Bull can absorb this new blow. “Our team is broadly based,” he finally assured.
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