Former F1 driver Giedo van der Garde has delivered a stunning prediction that four-time drivers’ champion Max Verstappen will depart Red Bull before his race engineer Gianpiero Lambiase makes his planned move to McLaren.<\/p>\n
The explosive claim comes amid recent news that Lambiase, who has been Verstappen’s trusted voice on the radio throughout his championship-winning years, will join the Woking-based squad as part of its senior management structure from 2028 onwards.<\/p>\n
The Italian engineer has been instrumental in guiding Verstappen to all four of his titles since their partnership began.<\/p>\n
Writing in his column for Formule 1 Magazine, van der Garde was asked to predict who would leave Red Bull first between Lambiase and Verstappen. His response was unequivocal.<\/p>\n
“I’m putting my money on Max,” van der Garde wrote. “Red Bull doesn’t have its affairs in order, and Max wants a car with which he can win races and titles. It’s that simple. I also think that Max will take the next step after this season.”<\/p>\n
The Dutchman’s assessment reflects growing uncertainty around Red Bull’s competitive position, with the team having been unable to maintain its dominant form from previous seasons.<\/p>\n
Under team principal Laurent Mekies, Red Bull improved in the second half of last year, but has taken another step backwards over the winter.<\/p>\n
Van der Garde expressed complete understanding of Lambiase’s career move, emphasising the mutual loyalty that has defined the engineer’s relationship with Verstappen and the Verstappen family.<\/p>\n
“First of all, it’s a wonderful opportunity for Lambiase. If you can grow into the role of team boss at a top team like McLaren, then you have to grab that chance with both hands,” he explained.<\/p>\n
“He deserves it wholeheartedly. Not only do I think that, but so do the Verstappens. Lambiase has always been very loyal to Max, and they’ve had a fantastic time together, with four titles as a result.”<\/p>\n
Despite Lambiase’s pending move to a direct competitor, van der Garde believes Red Bull should maintain the current working relationship until the engineer’s departure.<\/p>\n
“Despite knowing that Lambiase is moving to a direct competitor, I believe he should be able to continue fulfilling his current role until the very last day,” van der Garde stated.<\/p>\n
“He’s a valuable asset for the team and for Max. If Red Bull is sensible, it will keep that collaboration intact for as long as possible.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Former F1 driver Giedo van der Garde has delivered a stunning prediction that four-time drivers’ champion Max Verstappen…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":621568,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[572],"tags":[64,63,827,830,828,831,829,826,813,823,825,806,805,824,803,804,822,85],"class_list":{"0":"post-621567","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-motosport","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-daniel-ricciardo","11":"tag-f1-calendar","12":"tag-f1-live","13":"tag-f1-results","14":"tag-f1-standings","15":"tag-ferrari","16":"tag-formula-1","17":"tag-lewis-hamilton","18":"tag-max-verstappen","19":"tag-motor","20":"tag-motor-sports","21":"tag-motorsport","22":"tag-motosport","23":"tag-motosports","24":"tag-racing","25":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/621567","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=621567"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/621567\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/621568"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=621567"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=621567"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=621567"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}