Max Verstappen goes without key Red Bull figure ahead of Abu Dhabi F1 finale

Max Verstappen looks shocked at the absence of a key team member — Photo: © LAT Images

Abu Dhabi Grand Prix

Verstappen goes without key Red Bull figure ahead of Abu Dhabi F1 finale

It was a big miss for the three-time F1 world champion

Sam Cook Digital Journalist

Sports Journalist who has been covering motorsport since 2023

Saturday 25 November 2023 09:42

Max Verstappen was without his race engineer, Gianpiero Lambiase, during his practice session on Friday at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.

The pair sat together during FP1 as rookies Jake Dennis and Isack Hadjar took the wheel of the two Red Bull cars as part of Formula 1 young driver rules.

However when Verstappen jumped back in the car for FP2, there was no sign of Lambiase, who is lovingly known as GP.

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Instead, the dominant Dutchman's performance engineer, Tom Hart, had taken Lambiase's seat on the pit wall and was guiding Verstappen through a rather disjointed session.

Gianpiero Lambiase has become an important part of Max Verstappen's success

Max Verstappen is a three-time world champion with Red Bull

Max Verstappen has been known to be quite vocal over his team radio

Verstappen and Lambiase like a married couple

Verstappen will be glad to hear that Lambiase is fully expected to be back for qualifying and the race at the season-ending Abu Dhabi GP, meaning we will likely be able to hear a fair amount of arguing between the pair.

Red Bull team principal Christian Horner recently joked that Lambiase and Verstappen were like a married couple, and had been sent for marriage counselling during the summer break earlier this year.

Indeed, Verstappen has been known to have some rather choice words for his engineer during races, but has a very good relationship with GP off the track.