Max Verstappen's troubles at Red Bull just got worse. The champion has now lost a key member of his inner circle to rival team McLaren. The move fuels speculation about Verstappen's own future in the sport.

Since his first race for Red Bull in May 2016, Verstappen has only ever had one voice in his ear, and that has been the calm of Gianpiero Lambiase. The British-Italian race engineer started his F1 career with the Jordan outfit back in 2005 as a performance engineer, quickly rose to the rank of Race engineer for several drivers, including Sergio Perez in 2014 for Force India.

In 2015, he moved to Red Bull and a year later began his most successful partnership. The partnership with Verstappen began with the Dutch driver becoming the youngest ever race winner in Spain 2026, all the way to seeing him win four drivers' titles and lose out on the title in 2025 by just two points.

Formula 1 on X made the official announcement: "BREAKING: Red Bull Racing confirms their Head of Racing and Max Verstappen's race engineer GianPiero Lambiase will leave the team in 2028."

Gianpiero Lambiase is set to become the next big name to move on from the brand after the likes of Jonathan Wheately, Adrian Newey, Christian Horner, and Helmut Marko, leaving another big dent in the Milton Keynes-based side, especially with Verstappen’s future in the sport looking limited.

According to multiple outlets, including the Dutch De Telegraaf, Lambiase has accepted a multi-million-pound deal to become the Head of Race Engineering at McLaren, whose offer seemed too lucrative to turn down after Lambiase rejected Aston Martin over the winter, and Williams too was on the hunt for his signature.

And guess what? It’s no longer a speculation. On 9th April, 2026, McLaren's team confirmed on X that, "McLaren Racing is pleased to announce that GianPiero Lambiase will join the McLaren Mastercard Formula 1 Team as Chief Racing Officer, reporting into Team Principal Andrea Stella."

Is Verstappen’s F1 Career Near The End Now?

While Lambiase is set to remain till 2028 and serve out the length of his contract at Red Bull, his impending departure means that Verstappen’s retirement threats may not be as hollow as they initially seemed.

Verstappen’s contract will run till 2028, but there are performance clauses that could see him leave earlier. After a dismal Japanese GP where he finished 8th after starting 11th, an unhappy Verstappen dropped hints towards retirement, saying, “life isn’t just Formula 1.”

Verstappen also said, “When you are in P7 or P8, and are not enjoying the whole formula behind it, it doesn't feel natural to a racing driver.” He has earlier said about the regulations that “It feels like Formula E on steroids” and also called F1 “Mario Kart.”

With Lambiase becoming Team Principal at McLaren, we may see Verstappen step away from F1 at the end of the season and return as a McLaren driver if his race engineer makes an offer.

What are your thoughts on this?

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Written by

Debrup Chaudhuri

Edited by

Kaamna Dwivedi