According to media reports, Gianpiero Lambiase will leave Red Bull after his current contract expires and will join McLaren from 2028, where he will take one of the top positions. This is another stage in the disintegration of the championship-winning Red Bull team; the direction of the transfer and its distant date are surprising.
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Today’s media reports are sensational, but only partially. Lambiase’s departure from Red Bull was expected; such rumors had been appearing for several months. The big surprise is the direction and possible further consequences, as McLaren had not previously been mentioned in rumors related to him.
A brief history of Gianpiero Lambiase in F1 and previous rumors related to him
Gianpiero Lambiase has been working for the Red Bull Racing team since 2015. He started as Daniil Kvyat’s race engineer, and when the Russian was replaced by Max Verstappen, he became the Dutchman’s engineer and has held that position ever since. Every F1 fan should recognize Lambiase, as he has worked closely with Verstappen for nearly ten years. Concurrently, since 2022, he has taken on additional responsibilities within the team, currently combining the role of Verstappen’s race engineer with the role of Head of Race Operations. Before joining Red Bull, he worked for 11 years at the Silverstone-based team (Jordan / Midland / Spyker / Force India) in various positions. He therefore has extensive experience in Formula 1, as well as significant ambitions, as he has wanted to take on a higher position for some time.
In recent months, Gianpiero Lambiase has been linked with moves to Williams and Aston Martin. At Aston Martin, he was offered the position of team principal, but ultimately Jonathan Wheatley was chosen, which has not yet been announced. At Williams, at the end of last year, he was offered an unspecified high-level position. Lambiase said a rather emotional goodbye over the radio after the 2025 season finale, but ultimately decided to remain in the role of Verstappen’s race engineer for the 2026 season, which was only confirmed in early January. Lambiase’s contract with Red Bull expires in 2027. The Briton had personal problems last year due to his wife’s illness and was not present at every race. It was rumored that he wanted a more office-based job for this reason.
Considering the number of departures of key Red Bull employees over the past years, I am surprised that Lambiase was not offered a proper internal promotion. If he was offered one and is leaving anyway, it reflects even worse on the situation at Red Bull.
Gianpiero Lambiase to move to McLaren from 2028
The Dutch newspaper De Telegraaf, which has had very good access to Red Bull for several years due to Max Verstappen, was the first to report the latest news regarding Lambiase. Soon, other media outlets, including the BBC and The Race, confirmed this based on their own sources and contacts in both teams. Gianpiero Lambiase is set to join McLaren from 2028, where he will take on a high-level management position. The specific scope of duties is not clear, but the media agree that he will work closely with team principal Andrea Stella and take over some of his responsibilities. The Dutch De Telegraaf suggested that Lambiase might even eventually replace Stella, who is being courted by Ferrari, but at this point, that is only a rumor and their interpretation. No one knows what will happen in two years; such moves are possible. McLaren is said to have pursued Lambiase and offered him very good working conditions, including financial ones. He will be the third key Red Bull employee to move there, following Rob Marshall and Will Courtenay.
Gianpiero Lambiase is to remain Max Verstappen’s engineer until the end of this year, and perhaps longer, as his contract with Red Bull runs until the end of 2027. McLaren will likely want to reach an agreement to shorten this contract (they would pay for it), but it is unknown if Red Bull will agree to this. There is no official announcement from the teams; it may not appear at all or only once everything is settled.
The last three years have been very turbulent at Red Bull Racing, as almost all the most important people have left (for various reasons). The team is changing completely. In fact, the only key figures who have survived the internal reshuffles are Max Verstappen and technical director Pierre Waché. The latter’s position is under threat due to very poor form at the start of the 2026 season. All other management has left the team over the last three years for various reasons. This is an unprecedented situation for a team that is at the top of F1 and winning everything. It all started with the death of Red Bull owner Dietrich Mateschitz at the end of 2022.
Rob Marshall – in mid-2023, after 17 years of work, he announced his departure; in early 2024, he joined McLaren, where he works as chief designer.
Jonathan Wheatley – in August 2024, his departure after 18 years of work was announced. Since April 2025, he has been working as the team principal of Sauber / Audi. The Briton finished his work with that team in March and is expected to be the head of Aston Martin in the future.
Adrian Newey – in September 2024, after several months of speculation, he confirmed his departure. Since March 1, 2025, he has been working as the technical director of Aston Martin, where he also became a shareholder. From 2026, he will also be the team principal. Newey worked at Red Bull for 18 years.
Will Courtenay – in September 2024, it was announced that Red Bull’s head of strategy would move to McLaren, where he will work as sporting director from 2026. Courtenay has been Red Bull’s head of strategy since 2010 (the famous Hannah Schmitz is his subordinate), and he started working for the team even before Red Bull bought it. He is leaving after 21 years. Red Bull did not want to let him go earlier (he had a contract until mid-2026). He will join McLaren during 2026, but it is not known exactly when.
Christian Horner – dismissed in July 2025 after more than 20 years of work.
Helmut Marko – leaving his job at the end of 2025; he has worked with Red Bull since 1999.
Since July 2025, several administrative heads have left (or were dismissed): the head of marketing, the communications director, and the head of HR. It didn’t stop there, as other key employees also left their departments, in what was described in the media as a “cleansing” of Horner’s connections to these departments by the new management. Several long-time mechanics have also recently left the team, though these were their individual decisions.
Summary
I expect that McLaren will want to reach an agreement with Red Bull, paying for Lambiase to join them earlier than 2028, but it’s hard to say if that will actually happen. Until the end of this year, Lambiase should continue working at Red Bull as usual; if he fulfills his entire contract, he will be gradually phased out of current work in 2027. This is an unexpected transfer; we will see if it will be a real boost for McLaren. For now, I would ignore rumors that Lambiase is to be Stella’s successor in a few years; such a plan might exist, but it’s not worth planning that far ahead in F1, as much can change.
Lambiase’s departure will fuel rumors that Max Verstappen will not fulfill his contract with Red Bull, which runs until the end of 2028. The Dutchman will be able to leave after this season if he is not in the TOP 2 of the drivers’ standings at the end of June, which is not a threat to him. Personally, less and less is keeping him there; he doesn’t like the new technical regulations in F1, and Red Bull has built a car that cannot compete at the front. In my opinion, without a radical improvement of the car, Red Bull will not be able to keep Verstappen. The Dutchman will either take a break from F1 or want to move to another team. Personally, I would bet on a one or two-year break from F1 to compete in other series, followed by a return to another F1 team to fight for wins and championships again.
