Gianpiero Lambiase, and the Radio That Is Running Out

In the course of my racing career I have put eleven different cars under me yet had the same crew chief for nine of them. He can tell by the sound of my voice on the radio when the car is all right but I am fatigued. It is not the same as what comes out when there is a genuine problem with the machine, and that has been the saving grace in at least two races. No one put him up to it; he learned it over nine seasons of listening.

There is only one such relationship in Formula 1 at the top level and it will be done with by 2028 at the latest. Gianpiero Lambiase has been Max Verstappen’s race engineer since 2016, through four world titles in that time. In April 2026 Red Bull and McLaren made it official that he is going to Woking once his contract is up. It is treated as major news rather than a mere staffing matter because the job he does is more than just the voice on the radio.

From Jordan to Milton Keynes

The table above shows the order of things, and what stands out is how unremarkable the start was. After engineering for Daniil Kvyat in 2015, Lambiase simply stayed with the car when Verstappen came in for him at the fifth round of 2016. They were not made a pair. The driver changed and the engineer did not.

That led to eleven seasons with a single driver, something without parallel on the grid today. Drivers and engineers come and go, teams reorganize, but the pairing endured it all, even the exit of Adrian Newey and a team principal of twenty years’ standing.

What the job has become

He has had two title changes but the voice is the same, the promotions did not alter the work on the radio. Most accounts do not make much of this. A head of racing is responsible for the people who are in contact with both drivers and for the way the team puts on a Grand Prix, and answers to the team principal. For two years Lambiase has been doing the job of both. When he was absent for the Austrian Grand Prix, Red Bull had to put two people to work where one would normally do.

The radio, and why it gets quoted

The back and forth between them has become a genre. Verstappen makes his complaint, Lambiase gives a flat answer, neither yields an inch and the clip is around for a week. It is an odd tone for a sport in which the radio is usually circumspect, but it works in both directions: the engineer will put it on the broadcast feed if the driver is in error.

To the listener it may seem like friction but it is efficiency. Two men of eleven seasons’ acquaintance do not need to explain themselves. An exchange that sounds like a row is often a full technical discussion in nine seconds. Lambiase has said he would not attempt to replicate it with another driver, which is the detail of import for what is to come.

The move to McLaren

Both teams put out the terms on the same day in April 2026, as per the table above. That they did so speaks to how settled the deal already was.

At McLaren he will not be an engineer to a driver. It is a leadership post for the race team that Stella has been covering and the structure is in place. Lambiase has been plain that his trackside work with a driver is finished when his work with Verstappen is. Two other senior figures from Red Bull have made the trek to Woking ahead of him, so the direction of travel is clear.

One date is in question and the table has the two versions. Nothing is confirmed beyond the original text so the countdown everyone is keeping may be a year short of their reckoning.

Verstappen’s take on it

Verstappen said it would be foolish to stand in the way and spoke of the difficulty of replacing Lambiase in a manner that implies he has given it due thought. His own contract goes to the end of 2030, two years past the latest date given for the engineer’s departure.

That is the gap to watch. Red Bull has its champion tied down until 2030 and its team principal until 2031, and the one man in the building who has been with Verstappen the whole while is leaving in the middle of it. They have put Tom Hart in as successor. The performance engineer spurned a move to Williams for the job and has been running practice sessions for them this season. But the eleven years of listening cannot be handed over and no one has put it any other way.

My crew chief will call it quits some day and I will have someone in his place who is capable but does not know what I sound like when I am tired. It is a small version of the same thing and the only part of the story I can say I understand from experience.

Questions about Gianpiero Lambiase

01

Who is Max Verstappen’s race engineer?

Gianpiero Lambiase, known in the paddock as GP. He has held the role since Verstappen joined Red Bull in 2016, through four world championships.

02

Why is Lambiase leaving for McLaren?

He joins as chief racing officer, a leadership role over the whole race team reporting to Andrea Stella. Reporting at the time pointed to the promotion and the salary rather than to any dispute.

03

What is Lambiase called in the paddock?

GP, from his initials. The name is used by Verstappen on the radio and by the team in its own statements.

04

When does he actually arrive at McLaren?

Both teams said no later than 2028, when his Red Bull contract expires. In October 2026 Zak Brown suggested it could happen a year earlier.

05

What else does Lambiase do at Red Bull?

He has been head of race engineering since 2022 and head of racing since late 2024, running the trackside operation while continuing to engineer Verstappen.

Jake Holloway is a club racer, track-day instructor, and motorsports editor based near Charlotte, North Carolina. He has raced karts, Legends cars, Spec Miatas, and amateur endurance cars, and he writes for GreenyCars about how racing actually works, from the rule book to the pit lane.