Gianpiero Lambiase Set to Depart Red Bull for New Team in Shock Move

It has been a wild few years for Red Bull, with big names departing the Formula One team as massive changes occur within.

Christian Horner was sacked from his role as team principal in the middle of 2025, while Adrian Newey is now plying his trade as a leading engineer, and a brief time leading the whole project, at Aston Martin.

Now, news has emerged that Red Bull race engineer Gianpiero Lambiase will also leave for pastures anew, joining Horner, Newey, and Jonathan Wheatley as key figures to have left the Austrian team.

Lambiase to McLaren could mean that Max Verstappen's Red Bull career might 'stop too'

Max Verstappen, Red Bull, Japanese GP 2026 — Verstappen is a four-time world champion with Red Bull | Getty Images / Red Bull Content Pool

It has been confirmed that Gianpiero Lambiase will join McLaren in 2028 in a role similar to his at Red Bull, as head of race engineering. Reports had previously come out that Lambiase had been offered the leading role at Aston Martin, but he turned it down, and it seems another British team has grabbed his attention.

Having entered F1 in the mid-2000s at Jordan, he made his name at Force India before establishing himself as a leading figure in the sport thanks to his partnership with Max Verstappen in 2016.

Lambiase's relationship with Verstappen as his race engineer was not always the simplest, but it was clear that the two had an inseparable bond and deeply respected each other.

In the past, when talking to Ziggo Sport, Verstappen has admitted that he would not stay with Red Bull if Lambiase leaves, meaning that the Dutchman's future over the next couple of years could be heavily speculated about.

"I have said to [Lambiase that] I only work with him. As soon as he stops, I stop too... Of course, we can be pretty strict with each other sometimes, but I want that too. He has to tell me when I'm being a jerk and I have to tell him. I always told him that."
Verstappen on Lambiase

It is currently a complicated time at Red Bull, with the team struggling in the first three races in terms of challenging and competing at the front of the grid.

ℹ️ Key excerpts from @Telegraaf:

“By bringing in Lambiase, potentially in 2028, McLaren would already be preparing for a possible departure of Andrea Stella.”

“Lambiase is not the first key figure from Red Bull to move to McLaren. Previously, chief designer Rob Marshall and… https://t.co/P7eOKluap5
— McLaren News | 🇬🇧 🇦🇺 (@McLarenF1_News) April 9, 2026

They currently sit sixth out of 11 constructors in the team standings, with 16 points, while Verstappen's best race result so far is a sixth-placed finish at Albert Park.

Whether Lambiase's departure is performance-related or down to another factor, 2026 does not seem like it will be a straight forward one for the most dominant team of the 2020s, or either of its drivers in Verstappen and his new team-mate Isack Hadjar.