Former Red Bull adviser Helmut Marko has lamented the team’s forthcoming loss of Gianpiero Lambiase to Formula 1 rivals McLaren, describing it as a “significant loss.”
The British-Italian, who is race engineer to Max Verstappen, was confirmed to be leaving the Milton Keynes-based squad at the expiration of his contract in 2028.
He will then join up with McLaren, becoming its Chief Racing Officer, reporting to the outfit’s CEO Zak Brown and Team Principal Andrea Stella.
Lambiase was known to be highly sought after by many teams, but appeared to be enjoying stability at Red Bull, where he and Verstappen enjoyed a sometimes testy but ultimately firm relationship.
That was noted by Marko, who spoke of his sadness at Lambiase’s approaching exit to APA.
“The two were like an old married couple,” the Austrian quipped. “They had their discussions and disputes, but this is a significant loss.”
Lambiase’s exit will be yet another high-profile member of Red Bull’s personnel to exit, with Adrian Newey, Jonathan Wheatley, Will Courtenay, Rob Marshall, and, of course, Christian Horner and Marko himself also departing.
But the 82-year-old appeared confident that Lambiase can be sufficiently replaced, and via in-house promotion, stating that “the team is large.”
It is, without doubt, a large hole that Red Bull will need to fill, and with all the other large holes left by others, the team is metaphorically starting to resemble a Swiss cheese.
A recruitment process of significance will be needed to not only ensure Red Bull’s chances of future success, but also go some way to acquiesce to Verstappen, whose disillusionment with F1 is well-documented.
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