Red Bull Racing can't afford to lose 'GP' Lambiase

After many key figures already left Red Bull Racing, the team can't afford Gianpiero Lambiase also making a switch.

Should that happen, Lambiase would become the next key figure to leave the Austrian team after Adrian Newey (Aston Martin), Jonathan Wheatley (Audi) and Rob Marshall (McLaren) did.

The duo of 'GP' and Max Verstappen is one of the most iconic driver and race engineer partnerships in Formula 1. It is currently the longest-serving partnership in the series as well.

Recently, Yuki Tsunoda highlighted the qualities of 'GP'. He told DAZN Japan: "GP is honestly one of the most impressive engineers I’ve ever worked with. His ideas are incredible.

"It’s completely different [the way they communicate]. You hear how efficiently everything runs. I wanted to achieve that level of communication."

Photo: Race Pictures

As the Japanese driver pointed out, replicating the effectiveness of the way 'GP' and Verstappen operate together is close to impossible.

In 2025, we have already seen Lewis Hamilton get a new race engineer at Ferrari after Peter Bonnington, also known as 'Bono', remained with Mercedes and is now in the ears of Kimi Antonelli. The switch to Riccardo Adami was all but smooth for the seven-time world champion.

Verstappen already competed twice this season with Simon Rennie on the radio after Lambiase was missing due to personal reasons. An intra-team switch might not be as difficult as Hamilton settling into a different environment, but in close battles, the smooth communication between Verstappen and Lambiase could end up being crucial.

It's been nearly a decade since the two first began working together, and it could prove to be really difficult to replace this invaluable experience.

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