Max Verstappen suffers a strong blow to his future in F1

Gianpiero Lambiase, his race engineer, will leave Red Bull and join the ranks of McLaren. All, in the midst of the Dutchman’s displeasure with the new World Cup rules.

In the midst of the forced stoppage that Formula 1 is experiencing due to the war in the Middle East, Max Verstappen received one more blow in 2026: Gianpiero Lambiase, his already historic race engineer at Red Bull, will leave the team at the end of his contract at the end of 2027. The engineer’s destination will be McLaren, a team that won the fight against Williams and Aston Martin, who also wanted to have the Englishman’s services, thanks to a million-dollar offer, according to several European media.

McLaren confirmed the arrival of Lambiase in a press release distributed to the media. “The team is pleased to announce that GianPiero Lambiase will join the McLaren Mastercard Formula 1 team as Race Director, reporting to Team Principal Andrea Stella. The Race Director position already exists within the team structure, with overall leadership responsibilities of the race team. Andrea Stella currently handles these functions in addition to his role as Team Principal. The incorporation of Lambiase aims to strengthen and support McLaren’s talent, thus reaffirming the team’s long-term commitment to consolidate itself as a champion team,” the Woking team expressed in the statement. And added: “The team looks forward to welcoming GianPiero Lambiase when his current contract ends, no later than 2028.” Moments before, the Austrian team published on its networks the news of the Englishman’s departure from its structure for 2028.

The “marriage” between Verstappen and Lambiase began in May 2016, when the Dutch driver was promoted from Toro Rosso to the main team to replace Daniil Kvyat. The debut could not have been better: Max achieved his first victory in his debut at Red Bull in the Spanish GP, after that remembered touch between Nico Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton, the Mercedes duo that started from the front row. Verstappen and Lambiase celebrated 71 wins and four titles together. Lambiase was promoted to chief race engineer within the Milton Keynes team, but continued in his role as Verstappen’s race engineer.

The four-time champion is clearly not having his best moment in F1. The RB22 was not born competitive and after the first three rounds, Verstappen only occupies ninth place in the World Championship, with 12 points, 60 less than the leader, Kimi Antonelli. To the lack of performance of his car we must add a technical regulation that modified the way cars were driven. “Formula E with asteroids”, “Mario Kart” and “anti-racing cars” were some of the definitions he used to describe the new F1. Meanwhile, he chose to have fun with the Mercedes GT3 at Nordschlife, the Nürburgring long circuit, the track on which he will compete in the 24 Hours in May.

Verstappen’s contract with Red Bull expires at the close of the 2028 World Cup, however, as in all F1 ties, there are several termination clauses (in favor of both parties) that can cut the agreements before their end. To the constant warnings from the four-time champion that he will not be seen in Formula 1 for many years, is added a regulation that he does not like, a car that is not competitive and the departure of his right-hand man, which joins that of Helmut Marko in 2025… His future is a dilemma.

The Red Bull bleeding seems to have no end. Adding to the breakup of the iron triangle that managed the team’s destinies since 2005 (Christian Horner, Adrian Newey and Helmut Marko) was also the escape of Rob Marshall, the designer who also moved to McLaren and who was a fundamental piece in Lando Norris’ title last year, Jonathan Wheatley (the sports director who became director of Audi, a place he recently left) and Will Courtenay, the former head of strategy, who has been in Woking since this year. All the scaffolding that led the Austrians to dominate F1 was undone in the last three years.