Red Bull confirm Max Verstappen's race engineer Gianpiero Lambiase to leave for McLaren

Leading Red Bull engineer and technical staff member Gianpiero Lambiase is set to leave the team to join McLaren.

The Briton has been appointed as the new Chief Racing Officer with McLaren and has signed a deal with the Woking-based team that will begin from 2028. The role is intended to see him work alongside current McLaren F1 Team Principal Andrea Stella.

Lambiase, commonly known as GP, was Red Bull’s Head of Racing, and also worked as race engineer for Red Bull’s star driver Max Verstappen.

Red Bull confirmed the news in a message on social media after it was reported this morning in the Dutch media by journalists close to Verstappen and duly re-reported by a wide variety of other sources including the BBC, Sky and The Race.

The statement read, “Oracle Red Bull Racing confirms that Gianpiero Lambiase will leave the team when his contract expires in 2028, when his current contract expires. GP is a valued member of the team, which he joined in 2015.

“Until his planned departure, GP continues in his role as Head of Racing and Race Engineer to Max Verstappen, and we are fully committed to adding more success to our strong record together.”

Lambiase had first joined Red Bull for the 2015 F1 season, having previously worked as a race engineer with Force India. The engineer, who was born in England to Italian parents, was a race engineer for Vitantonio Liuzzi, Paul di Resta and Sergio Perez with the Silverstone-based team before moving to Red Bull.

At Red Bull, Lambiase initially took up a position with Dany Kvyat, but soon became Verstappen’s engineer after the two drivers were swapped early in the 2016 season. Lambiase has been Verstappen’s race engineer for all of the Dutchman’s time with the Red Bull Racing squad, which has seen Verstappen win 71 races and 4 driver’s championship titles.

News of Lambiase’s departure has added to speculation about the future of Verstappen. The Dutchman is contracted to Red Bull Racing until the end of the 2028 F1 season, but has publicly voiced his unhappiness with F1’s new rules for the 2026 season on multiple occasions and said after F1’s last race in Japan that he was openly contemplating whether to leave the sport altogether.

The departure is also among a trend of exits of senior staff from Red Bull in recent years. Lambiase follows Rob Marshall and Will Courtenay in moving from Red Bull to McLaren, while for various reasons, Christian Horner, Helmut Marko, Adrian Newey and Verstappen’s former chief mechanic Matt Caller have all left the team in the last 2 years.

McLaren confirmed the news in their own statement, as they said, “McLaren Racing is pleased to announce that GianPiero Lambiase will join the McLaren Mastercard Formula 1 Team as Chief Racing Officer, reporting to Team Principal, Andrea Stella.

“The role of the Chief Racing Officer already exists within the team’s structure, with overall leadership of the race team. These duties are currently managed by Andrea Stella in addition to his role as Team Principal.

“Lambiase is the latest hire designed to strengthen and support the talent pool that exists at McLaren Mastercard, while also reaffirming the team’s long-term commitment to confirming its position as a Championship-winning team.”