Red Bull poach Ferrari F1 star after Gianpiero Lambiase exit

Red Bull

Red Bull poach Ferrari star after Gianpiero Lambiase exit

Helmut Marko believes the team have signed a replacement from Ferrari

Sam Cook Digital Journalist

Sports Journalist who has been covering motorsport since 2023

Wednesday 22 April 2026 20:29 Updated: 21:31

A former Red Bull F1 legend has revealed that the team have signed a replacement for Gianpiero Lambiase already.

Lambiase was revealed earlier this month to be leaving the Milton Keynes-based outfit and instead joining McLaren, although the move will not happen until around 2028.

It means that Lambiase will not be Red Bull's head of racing nor Max Verstappen's race engineer when he leaves, and will instead be McLaren's chief racing officer.

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It leaves two important roles empty heading into the future, but former motorsport advisor Helmut Marko has revealed that the team have replaced Lambiase already.

The 82-year-old has claimed that Red Bull have signed somebody from Ferrari to replace Lambiase.

Marko was asked in an interview with OE24 how important the departure of Lambiase would be for Red Bull.

"Successful people are constantly being poached; Lambiase gained public recognition through Max," he said. "To replace him, we’ve brought in someone from Ferrari."

What will Lambiase exit mean for Verstappen's future?

Verstappen's long-term future at Red Bull has been called into question recently despite being contracted until the end of the 2028 season with the team, due to Red Bull's poor start to the season.

They are currently looking like a midfield team in the sport, and a number of other teams have been linked with acquiring the services of the four-time world champion.

On top of this, Verstappen's distaste of the new 2026 regulations have led to reports that the Dutchman is 'seriously considering' retiring from the sport, although the FIA have this week announced tweaks to those regulations for the rest of the season.

A video recently resurfaced from 2021 showing Verstappen talking about his race engineer and great friend Lambiase.

Verstappen can be heard in the video saying: "I told him (Lambiase) that I only work with him. As soon as he stops, I stop."

Lambiase is expected to stay at Red Bull until around 2028, meaning we could yet still have two seasons of the Verstappen-Lambiase team radio duo.

F1 Red Bull Max Verstappen Ferrari McLaren Helmut Marko