Verstappen to Lose Longtime Race Engineer Lambiase After 2025 Season

Max Verstappen will begin the 2026 season with a new race engineer as Gianpiero Lambiase ends his eight-year tenure calling the Dutch driver's races. The decision, driven by Lambiase's personal circumstances, concludes a partnership that produced 71 Grand Prix wins and four world championships since Verstappen joined Red Bull for the 2016 Spanish GP.

Why it matters:

This separation represents the dismantling of F1's most successful modern driver-engineer duo at the peak of their powers. Lambiase's calm, analytical presence became integral to Verstappen's evolution from fiery prodigy to dominant champion – a relationship that weathered title battles, controversies, and emotional highs like Verstappen's first championship in 2021. Losing such institutional knowledge risks disrupting Red Bull's operational rhythm during a critical transition period.

The details:

• Lambiase confirmed the change stems from "very difficult" personal circumstances outside racing, explaining his reduced track presence this season including absences at Austria and Belgium where Simon Rennie substituted.
• The 45-year-old will remain with Red Bull but work exclusively from Milton Keynes, making race engineer duties impossible due to the role's requirement for constant travel and pit wall presence.
• Emotional farewell: Lambiase was teary-eyed on the Abu Dhabi pit wall after Verstappen narrowly missed a fifth title – a moment now viewed as his de facto sendoff.
• Continuity plan: Rennie, a former McLaren race engineer with 2023 title experience, is the leading internal candidate to take over. His interim stints this season served as audition periods.
• Team turbulence: This departure follows Adrian Newey's exit and Christian Horner's legal challenges, compounding instability as Red Bull prepares for 2026's new technical regulations.

What's next:

While Verstappen maintains confidence in Red Bull's engineering depth, the team faces mounting pressure to stabilize its leadership core. Lambiase's departure coincides with growing speculation about Helmut Marko's potential exit, which would remove another foundational figure from Verstappen's championship era. The real test comes in 2026: if Rennie seamlessly integrates while Red Bull navigates regulation changes, the driver-engineer transition could prove routine. But any early-season missteps might expose how deeply Verstappen relied on Lambiase's unique blend of technical precision and psychological understanding – the invisible thread that helped transform raw speed into four titles.