McLaren hires Red Bull's Gianpiero Lambiase in strategic move

McLaren has confirmed the high-profile signing of Red Bull's Gianpiero Lambiase, who will join the team in 2028 as Chief Racing Officer. The move bolsters McLaren's trackside leadership and provides team principal Andrea Stella with a senior deputy to share the immense workload of a modern F1 operation, while simultaneously dealing a significant blow to a Red Bull team already grappling with an exodus of key personnel.

Why it matters:

This recruitment is a strategic masterstroke for McLaren, securing one of the paddock's most respected engineers to solidify its championship-winning structure for the long term. For Red Bull, losing Max Verstappen's long-time race engineer and a key trackside leader represents another major departure that could impact team stability and even influence the reigning champion's future decisions.

The details:

• Lambiase will join McLaren as Chief Racing Officer in 2028, a newly created senior role reporting to Team Principal Andrea Stella.
• His responsibilities will focus on trackside operations, allowing Stella to delegate some duties and focus on broader technical and strategic leadership.
• The move ends speculation linking Lambiase to a team principal role at Aston Martin and confirms he was not hired to replace Stella at McLaren.
• At Red Bull, Lambiase had evolved from Verstappen's race engineer into a de facto head of trackside engineering, making his departure a substantial loss.
• McLaren's leadership structure, which also includes former Red Bull engineer Will Courtenay and Sporting Director Randy Singh, is now one of the most experienced in the paddock.

The big picture:

McLaren's hire is a proactive move to future-proof its operations, ensuring strong leadership depth remains regardless of any future changes. It highlights the modern reality of F1, where the classic 'super principal' model is unsustainable due to the sport's complexity, necessitating a distributed leadership approach. For Lambiase, joining the well-established and high-performing McLaren operation represents a logical career step compared to other suitors like Aston Martin or Williams, which are still building their foundations.

What's next:

The long lead time until Lambiase's 2028 arrival means immediate on-track impact will be minimal, but the strategic planning within both teams begins now.

• McLaren must seamlessly integrate him into its existing, successful structure without disrupting current operations.
• Red Bull faces the urgent task of managing another high-profile exit and finding a suitable replacement for a role critical to Verstappen's performance, all while its competitive form has declined.
• The timing aligns with the expiration of Verstappen's Red Bull contract in 2028, fueling speculation that Lambiase's move could be a factor in the champion's own future deliberations.