Red Bull has been braced for a major personnel exit, as Max Verstappen‘s race engineer Gianpiero Lambiase is reportedly set for a protracted-time period transfer to Formula 1 rivals McLaren.
The Italian-Brit has been with the Milton Keynes-based squad since 2014, and has served as Verstappen’s race engineer for the whole lot of the Dutchman’s tenure with the staff.
As effectively as holding the titles of Head of Race Engineering and ‘head of racing’, Lambiase has develop into a effectively-recognized determine in the game.
His usually frank, blunt or humorous manner with phrases on the pit wall in dialog with Verstappen has helped him develop into a effectively-recognized and far-appreciated determine in his personal proper.
And Lambiase has undoubtedly been rightly credited for being a giant a part of Verstappen’s success, the 2 having fun with a detailed friendship as a consequence.
But a report from De Limburger, verified by De Telegraaf‘s Erik van Haren, has stated that Lambiase is set to move down the pit lane to one of Red Bull’s chief rivals.
The report states that Lambiase has been provided an enormous sum – far exceeding his Red Bull wage – to transfer to the Woking-based outfit, however would solely make the switch after his present contract expires on the finish of 2027.
Has McLaren received the battle for one among Red Bull’s understated gems?
It would imply that McLaren will probably be seen as having fought off competitors from different groups for Lambiase’s companies, with rumours on the finish of final 12 months linking him with strikes to Williams and Aston Martin.
If true, Lambiase can be the important thing Red Bull determine to transfer to McLaren in as a few years, with Rob Marshall and Will Courtenay additionally leaping ship.
A Lambiase departure would even be one more major Red Bull personnel exit, the staff having confronted major shake-ups over the past 18 months.
Adrian Newey and Jonathan Wheatley had been the primary huge names to transfer elsewhere, which was adopted by the excessive-profile departures of Christian Horner and Helmut Marko.
The report means that Lambiase will probably be introduced in to substitute present Team Principal Andrea Stella, with extra hypothesis linking the Italian with a transfer again to Ferrari, the place he was a race engineer.
This will naturally gasoline additional hypothesis that Verstappen is severely contemplating retiring from F1, after making a sequence of hints about his future for the reason that begin of the season.
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