The future of Max Verstappen with Red Bull is uncertain.
Gianpiero Lambiase, the race engineer for Red Bull, has acknowledged that he might leave the company if Fernando Alonso takes Max Verstappen’s place. The Dutch driver’s future has been the subject of much speculation, with Christian Horner purportedly considering Alonso as a possible successor.
Due to the controversy surrounding the team principal, Horner has “big intentions” to recruit Alonso, according to F1 analyst Ralf Schumacher, should Verstappen decide to go. “The team is thinking about an alternative, and there are now completely new rumours,” Schumacher stated. “Fernando Alonso has always been a huge passion of Christian Horner’s.”
Although Verstappen’s contract with Red Bull expires in 2028, he and advisor Helmut Marko allegedly incorporated a hidden break provision that would allow him to quit the team. Alonso’s contract with Aston Martin expires at the end of the current season.
The most likely choice is Mercedes, and team owner Toto Wolff hasn’t held back when expressing his desire to sign Verstappen. Red Bull might suffer a second blow if the Dutchman were to depart, though, as the highly regarded Lambiase does not appear ready to collaborate with another driver.
“I genuinely regard Max as my younger sibling,” Lambiase stated to the BBC. We are able to discuss anything and everyone at any moment. We’ve reached a stage where we just feel so comfortable and at ease with one another. Possibly going against the grain, but I don’t think I would be interested in working with another driver at this time.
“Having had the success that we have enjoyed together with Max, working with one of the greatest talents that the sport has ever seen, I don’t think it would be fair on another driver, from their perspective or mine, to try and replicate what we have achieved with Max.”
In 2015, Lambiase, then forty-three, left Force India to work as race engineer for Daniil Kvyat at Red Bull. He continued in that capacity after Verstappen assumed control of the seat, and he is in charge of communicating with the driver while they are racing.
Lambiase’s work at Force India and Jordan provided him with the expertise he needed to connect with Verstappen early in the Dutchman’s career. Together, they won three world championships, a feat the British driver is unwilling to replicate with another driver.
“I had experience working with multiple drivers before Max, and that was one of the biggest helps in terms of hitting the ground running with him,” said Lambiase. “I think if I had been a newbie to my role, I wouldn’t quite say he would have eaten me alive, but I’m not sure he would have had that respect for a junior engineer.”
