Lambiase commits to Red Bull as Verstappen's race engineer

Their relationship over the Red Bull team radio sometimes seems more like that of siblings snapping at each other over the family dinner table, but race engineer Gianpiero Lambiase remains firmly committed to standing by Max Verstappen.

Lambiase has worked closely with the three-time world champion ever since his arrival at Red Bull in 2015, after a decade spent working for Force India going back to the days when it was initially Jordan and briefly Midland.

Other big long-time names at Red Bull including Rob Marshall and Adrian Newey have decided it's time for a change and put in their papers at Milton Keynes, with sporting director Jonathan Wheatley the latest to give notice.

But there's no question of Lambiase going anywhere, with the 43-year-old London-born British-Italian having resisted high money offers from other teams to lure him away from Red Bull.

PlanetF1 reported this week that Lambiase signed a new contract to remain at the team as head of race engineering just prior to the start of the summer break.

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The report added that Lambiase was wooed by recent offers from Ferrari and McLaren to secure his services while Tom Hart, Verstappen’s performance engineer, resisted a big money offer to join Mercedes.

Fans have been surprised by the sharpness of some of the exchanges between Lambiase and Verstappen during races. Lambiase is seemingly unique in being able to tell the world champion to shut up and follow orders, and remain good friends back in the paddock.

With Red Bull in a state of flux with so many top names moving on, Lambiase's loyalty to the squad and to team principal Christian Horner could see him destined for even bigger things in a reorganised team structure.

Horner has spoken of a post-continuity succession plan making use of the strength and depth of Red Bull's workforce.

He's ensured that chief engineers Paul Monaghan and Ben Waterhouse will remain with the team for the foreseeable future, along with Enrico Balbo (head of aerodynamics) and Pierre Waché (technical director).

Balbo and Waché were both targeted for recruitment by Aston Martn boss Lawrence Stroll but both said no. Instead, Waché will take over leading Red Bull’s technical department once Newey departs as chief technical officer.

“We would prefer him with us, but that is not how it is," Waché told the website recently. "[When] people leave the team, we have already organised ourselves with our team.

"We try to improve and this is how we work. We concentrate on what we can do better," he continued. “It’s the nature of the team. The leaders who left were a leader in their area, but it’s a natural aspect of each organisation.

"We give a chance to the younger, bright people to embrace this challenge," Waché added. "It's good for the people, and for the team."

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