The future of Red Bull engineer Gianpiero Lambiase is a hot topic at Christmas. The well-known face of Max Verstappen’s achievements is considering his next steps and many indications are that he no longer wants to travel far 24 times a year to the grand prix. He has family reasons for it.
Many were surprised by the somewhat emotional reaction of the Red Bull pit wall after the last Grand Prix in Abu Dhabi. The British engineer with Italian parents visibly cried after the race and exchanged emotional messages with Max Verstappen. Was it just the disappointment of losing the title fight, or was there something more to it?
Max himself told Lambiase on the radio that “we showed them who’s boss for the last time”. All these facts caused media reactions. What is behind it? There was talk of Lambiase’s transfer to another team – after all, the competition has already “stolen” practically the entire engineering team of the four-time champion and his chief mechanic is also leaving – and about health problems.
Unfortunately, it turns out that his wife Eloisa has health problems. On December 11, she admitted on social networks that she suffers from breast cancer and is undergoing treatment. It would be completely understandable if Lambiase, after years of success, asked Red Bull to transfer to another position that would not require frequent travel to circuits.
Not only Aston Martin is interested, but also Williams
At the moment, medialized information diverges. Some sources announce Lambiase’s stay at Red Bull, The Race portal recently reported on negotiations with Aston Martin, which even allegedly offers the British-Italian engineer a very high management position, and finally the Motorsport.com portal also called, which threw one more name into the mix.
In his article, this source cited The Race and the aforementioned negotiations with Aston Martin, but also stated that there was another interested party. “Gianpiero Lambiase looks unlikely to stay at Red Bull,” writes Motorsport.com. “Our colleagues at The Race advise that he is very close to a move to Aston Martin, but Motorsport.com insists that negotiations with Williams are also ongoing.”
According to Motorsport, it should have been clear at the end of last season that Lambiase was leaving. He recalls the engineer’s absences during the weekends in Austria and Belgium, where he was replaced by Simon Rennie, Daniel Ricciardo’s former engineer. “Gianpiero has asked Red Bull senior management to reduce his number of trips abroad for personal reasons,” writes Motorsport.com.
Lambiase’s right-hand man and Max Verstappen’s performance engineer, Tom Hart, is reportedly leaving for Williams. However, the Italians did not say what position Lambiase should occupy in the Grove. However, according to their article, Aston Martin offered Lambiase “a lucrative executive position that would not require him to attend all 24 races on the calendar”.
