Max Verstappen and race engineer Gianpierro Lambiase have enjoyed a fruitful partnership since the Dutchman joined Red Bull’s senior team from Scuderia Toro Rosso in 2016.
Verstappen holds great reverence for Lambiase, and his announcement after sealing the 2021 Driver’s Championship confirmed that.
“I have said to him I only work with him. As soon as he stops, I stop too. Of course, we can be pretty strict with each other sometimes, but I want that too,” stated Verstappen.
Intriguingly, the pair do not operate without coming to blows.
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Evidence of friction can be traced back to the Brazilian Grand Prix in 2022. Lambiase disputed Verstappen’s decision to ignore team orders when told to let Sergio Perez pass.
Asking a World Champion to give up a spot for anyone is a hard task, but Verstappen appears to feed off tensions, claiming:
“He has to tell me when I’m being a jerk and I have to tell him. I always told him that. He can tell me that on the radio as well, but it’s been going really well lately. The last few years I tried to be the engineer and he tried to be the driver.”
Christian Horner has zero concerns over the relationship
Reports from Red Bull team principal Christian Horner do not differ.
“Everything’s fine between them. Gianpiero is simply not afraid to speak his mind,” he said.
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“The dynamic between the two is so intense that in between you have to ask yourself who is supposed to be the driver and who is supposed to be the engineer here.
“I think the work between a driver and his race engineer is quite fundamental to success. The engineer has to be able to implement what the driver needs. I recognise as strong a bond there as there used to be between Sebastian Vettel and Guillaume Rocquelin [Rocky].” Horner claimed.
Max Verstappen and Gianpiero Lambiase have formed a dream team, void of nonsense, and consistently brutally honest in their assessments – a formidable pairing being the outcome.