Gianpiero Lambiase officially confirmed to leave Red Bull for McLaren in 2028

Written by Kavi Khandelwal, Edited by Marit Everett

The foundations at Milton Keynes are fracturing further as Gianpiero Lambiase, the tactical voice behind Max Verstappen’s four world titles, has signed a multi-million-pound agreement to join McLaren for the 2028 Formula One season.

Credit: Formula One

The move, first reported by Dutch outlet De Limburger, represents a seismic shift in the F1 paddock, detaching the sport’s most famously blunt driver-engineer duo after a decade-long partnership.

Lambiase, who currently serves as Red Bull’s Head of Racing in addition to his duties on the pit wall, will see out his existing contract through the end of 2027 before migrating to Woking in a senior leadership capacity.

This poaching of "GP" is the latest in a relentless "brain drain" that has hollowed out the technical core of the championship-winning outfit. Lambiase follows in the footsteps of former Chief Designer Rob Marshall and Strategy Chief Will Courtenay, both of whom were lured to McLaren as the papaya team continues to systematically dismantle Red Bull’s operational hierarchy.

With Adrian Newey already bound for Aston Martin and Jonathan Wheatley set to lead Audi, the departure of the man Verstappen once claimed was the only person he would work with signals the end of an era for the Red Bull garage.

The timing of the announcement adds a layer of strategic urgency to the 2026 and 2027 seasons. While Red Bull successfully fended off earlier "coup attempts" from Williams and Aston Martin to keep Lambiase for the start of the new engine regulations, the allure of a senior leadership role at McLaren—potentially as a successor to Team Principal Andrea Stella—proved decisive.

Stella himself has been increasingly linked with a return to Ferrari, and McLaren’s move for Lambiase ensures they have an elite-level replacement prepared to step into a management vacuum.

For Verstappen, the news lands amidst a deepening F1 crisis at Red Bull. The team has struggled significantly with the 2026 technical transition, with the Dutchman recently exploding in a barrage of radio fire at Lambiase during a difficult Chinese Grand Prix, where he lamented that he had "never driven a car that is as difficult to handle".

Despite the recent friction, the two have been an inseparable unit since Verstappen’s 2016 debut win in Spain, with Lambiase’s calm, often stern, counter-messages serving as the necessary anchor for Verstappen’s aggressive cockpit temperament.

Red Bull must now navigate the final two years of this partnership knowing their Head of Racing is already committed to their primary rival. The team faces an immediate internal restructuring challenge, as Lambiase was only recently promoted to oversee all trackside activities following Wheatley’s exit.

With Laurent Mekies now leading the team after the dismissal of Christian Horner, the loss of Lambiase leaves the team with few remnants of the staff that dominated the early 2020s.

As the F1 paddock moves toward 2028, the focus shifts to whether Verstappen will seek a clause to follow his engineer or if the dissolution of this partnership marks the final step in Red Bull's descent from its peak.