Alex Brundle explains why Red Bull may need to replace Max Verstappen’s race engineer after 2026

Photo by Mark Thompson/Getty Images

Alex Brundle says Red Bull may decide to move Gianpiero Lambiase away from Max Verstappen before he leaves for McLaren.

Lambiase will make the switch to McLaren in 2028, the latest departure from Red Bull’s core group following their championship run.

He follows Christian Horner, Jonathan Wheatley, Adrian Newey, and Helmut Marko out of the team as Red Bull’s decline starts to show.

Verstappen has remained very loyal to Lambiase and credits him as a key factor in his success over recent years. Even so, Laurent Mekies could be forced to make a change before Lambiase heads to McLaren.

Alex Brundle shares why Red Bull may replace Gianpiero Lambiase before his McLaren move

Speaking on the Red Flags podcast, F1 commentator Alex Brundle discussed how Gianpiero Lambiase’s exit could impact Red Bull and Max Verstappen.

Brundle suggested that Red Bull may decide to make a change before then, both to look ahead and to prevent any information from leaking to McLaren.

“Your inner racer says, come the end of this season, Laurent might say we’re going to find, as much for continuity with Max, a new engineer. And actually that opens up the door for them,” Brundle said.

“Because I’m not sure having an engineer that everyone in the team knows is leaving, even if GP is leaving, even if GP is absolutely upstanding as these guys so often are, with the information that he is controlling from Red Bull that is not supposed to go across to McLaren.”

Red Bull may rethink Lambiase replacement if McLaren pulls further ahead

Brundle also pointed out that Red Bull might opt to keep Lambiase in place if the gap to McLaren grows large enough that sharing information would no longer be a significant concern.

He said: “It’s fascinating. And it’s going to depend on the internal relationship and the performance of the two cars as well.

“Red Bull could easily think, ‘Well, if McLaren is up the road, then we’ve not got a huge amount to lose by them knowing much information about our car.’”

Lambiase has been a key figure in Verstappen’s success over recent years, and replacing him could further impact Verstappen’s already uncertain future with the team.

If Verstappen decides to move on, Red Bull’s long-term prospects look increasingly bleak, potentially dropping them further into the midfield pack.

Read more:

• Jock Clear says Ferrari never expected Lewis Hamilton to match Charles Leclerc immediately
• Jenson Button sets the record straight amid rumours he is replacing Martin Brundle on Sky
• F1 star Kimi Antonelli could drive a Lamborghini ‘perfectly’ before he turned 10