Red Bull team principal Laurent Mekies has said Max Verstappen’s race engineer Gianpiero Lambiase will become McLaren team principal.
Red Bull announced in March that Lambiase was leaving his role as head of race engineering and Verstappen’s engineer to join McLaren, who said he would take up the position of chief racing officer “no later than 2028”. McLaren explained the chief racing officer role already exists within their structure, with its duties currently handled by Andrea Stella alongside his responsibilities as team principal.
Speaking about Lambiase’s departure at the Miami Grand Prix, Mekies told Sky Sports F1 that his current employee “is going to be a team principal” at McLaren. Reacting to a question about the flow of key figures leaving Red Bull, Mekies added: “We don’t want to be defensive about it. We have lost quite a few key people in the last four, five years, it is very true. We take it very seriously and everything we do is to try to make sure that we have the best environment to attract, to develop and to retain our people. I’m confident it’s an area we will succeed in. Is it going to be a linear way to it with nobody leaving anymore? No. GP (Lambiase) had an extraordinary opportunity. You know, he is going to be a team principal there. It’s not something that I can do anything else than wishing him well.”
Red Bull later confirmed to Sky Sports F1 that Mekies believes Lambiase will become McLaren team principal.
McLaren chief executive Zak Brown, when shown Mekies’ comments, said: “He knows something I don’t, apparently. I’ve got one (a team principal), and I’ve got a great one. I got the best one in the pit lane in Andrea Stella. I couldn’t be happier than (I am with) Andrea.” Brown praised Stella’s work since his December 2022 appointment, noting the team’s recent turnaround — successive constructors’ titles and a drivers’ title for Lando Norris — and said: “My job as CEO is to get the best talent, to think long term, to have the most strength on pit wall or at the factory, in design, whatever the case may be. Andrea has done a fantastic job, our technical team. GP is a huge talent, so when the opportunity presented itself to strengthen our racing team, that’s exactly what we’re going to do – whether it’s a racing driver, an engineer, a strategist, whatever the case may be. So, I’m very happy he’s going to be joining us.”
Some uncertainty remains about exactly when Lambiase will move, with McLaren expressing interest in making the transition happen before 2028. McLaren’s statement at the time of the hire said Lambiase is “the latest hire designed to strengthen and support the talent pool that exists at McLaren Mastercard, while also reaffirming the team’s long-term commitment to confirming its position as a championship-winning team.”