GianPiero Lambiase will leave Red Bull after his current contract expires and will join McLaren from 2028, where he will take one of the highest positions. This is another stage of the disintegration of the championship Red Bull team; the direction of the transfer and its distant date are surprising.
Read more Gianpiero Lambiase is set to move to McLaren
Update 16:30 – the article has been updated following press releases from Red Bull and McLaren.
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 short 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 this position until now. Every F1 fan should recognize Lambiase, as he has been working closely with Verstappen for nearly ten years. Concurrently, since 2022, he took on additional duties in the team, currently combining the role of Verstappen’s race engineer with the role of Head of Racing. 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 very 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 was linked with transfers 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 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 stationary 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 it was offered and he is leaving anyway, it speaks even worse of the situation at Red Bull.
GianPiero Lambiase will move to McLaren in 2028
The Dutch newspaper De Telegraaf was the first to report the latest news regarding Lambiase, which has had very good access to Red Bull for several years due to Max Verstappen. Soon, other media, including the BBC and The Race, confirmed this based on their own sources and contacts in both teams. After 16:00, press releases appeared from Red Bull and McLaren. Red Bull announced that GianPiero Lambiase will leave them in 2028. Until then, he is to work as Max Verstappen’s race engineer and Head of Racing.
McLaren published its statement a dozen or so minutes later. They announced that GianPiero Lambiase will take the position of Chief Racing Officer with them, reporting directly to Andrea Stella. Lambiase will take over some of the duties of Stella, who is currently responsible for matters included in the Chief Racing Officer position. McLaren also reminded that they are an attractive workplace for key F1 employees, having previously been joined by Rob Marshall and Will Courtenay, who also moved from Red Bull, although they do not mention the name of that team. McLaren is building a team to regularly compete for the world championship in the long term. In the statement, they also added that GianPiero Lambiase will join them after his current contract expires – no later than 2028.
According to earlier rumors from the Dutch De Telegraaf, Lambiase is even intended to eventually replace Stella, who is being tempted by Ferrari, but at the moment this is only a rumor and their interpretation. No one knows what will happen in two years; such moves are possible. McLaren was said to have sought Lambiase and offered him very good working conditions, including financial ones.
McLaren’s statement suggests that they will want to reach an agreement and shorten Lambiase’s contract (they will pay for it), but it is not known if Red Bull will agree to this.
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The last three years have been very turbulent at the Red Bull Racing team, as almost all the most important people have left (for various reasons). The team is changing completely. In fact, the only key people who have survived the internal reshuffles are Max Verstappen and technical director Pierre Waché. The latter’s position is at risk due to very poor form at the start of the 2026 season. All the rest of the 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. Everything was triggered by 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; at the beginning of 2024, he joined McLaren, where he works as chief designer.
Jonathan Wheatley – in August 2024, his departure was announced after 18 years of work. From April 2025, he works as team principal of Sauber / Audi. The Briton finished work at this team in March and should be the head of Aston Martin in the future.
Adrian Newey – in September 2024, after several months of speculation, he confirmed his departure. From March 1, 2025, he works as technical director of Aston Martin and also became a shareholder there. 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 over 20 years of work.
Helmut Marko – leaving work at the end of 2025, he has worked with Red Bull since 1999.
Since July 2025, several heads of administration have left (been dismissed): the head of marketing, communications director, and head of HR. It didn’t end there, as other key employees also left their departments; these were described in the media as “cleansing” Horner’s connections with these departments by the new management. Several long-term mechanics have also recently left the team; these were their individual decisions.
Summary
I expect that McLaren will want to reach an agreement with Red Bull and pay for Lambiase to join them earlier than 2028, but it is hard to say if this will actually happen. Lambiase is to continue working at Red Bull; if he completes the entire contract, in my opinion, in 2027 he will be gradually sidelined from current work. This is an unobvious transfer; we will see if McLaren will be actually strengthened. For now, I would ignore rumors that Lambiase would be Stella’s successor in a few years; such a plan may exist, but it is 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 is valid 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 does not like the new technical regulations in F1, and Red Bull has made a car with which he 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 take a break from F1 or will want to move to another team. Personally, I would bet on a year or two break from F1 to compete in other series, and then a return to another F1 team to fight for wins and championships again.
