Red Bull boss confirms Gianpiero Lambiase role despite McLaren denial

Red Bull F1 boss Laurent Mekies has confirmed outgoing race engineer Gianpiero Lambiase is set to become McLaren team principal, despite the papaya squad's persistent denial of the rumours.

Lambiase has been a key player in Max Verstappen's success at Red Bull, having been by the Dutchman's side since his very first race with the energy drink giant's main F1 squad.

Since becoming his race engineer in 2016 when the superstar was just 18 years old, Lambiase has helped to guide Verstappen to four drivers' championships and two consecutive constructors' victories with the Milton Keynes-based squad.

But in the year that marks a decade of their intense partnership, Lambiase has announced he will be making a move to Red Bull rivals McLaren in the near future.

The British-Italian engineer is the latest in a long line of Red Bull staff to succumb to the attraction of reigning champions McLaren, with Lambiase (affectionately known as GP) set to join the Woking-based team no later than 2028 as Chief Racing Officer.

As Red Bull and McLaren continue to take shots at one another over a potential early transfer for GP, there has been plenty of confusion over whether he is being lined up to eventually replace McLaren boss Andrea Stella or not.

Mekies: Lambiase WILL replace Stella as McLaren team principal

During Friday’s team principal press conference at the Canadian Grand Prix, Mekies was asked by Sky Sports F1's Craig Slater whether he or Stella, who was also sat on the FIA sofa, could clear up the mixed messages coming out of the rival teams regarding GP's future.

In Miami last time out, Mekies claimed Lambiase was set to become McLaren team principal, a statement that many dismissed as a vocal slip-up rather than a bombshell.

But the Frenchman has now doubled down on his reveal despite McLaren CEO Zak Brown responding to the clip of Mekies' claim on Sky Sports by joking: "He knows something I don’t, apparently."

McLaren seem keen to quash any reports of Lambiase replacing Stella, especially when rumours previously ran wild that the Italian F1 boss could be eyeing up a Ferrari move, but Mekies insists his claim is true.

Responding to the matter in Montreal, Mekies said: "Look, it’s certainly my understanding that GP is going to McLaren to become a Team Principal. That’s what I told you at the time.

"Obviously, we had a number of conversations before he was going to make the decision.

"Now don’t ask me if it’s going to happen, the timing of it is none of my business. I can just tell you the content of our conversations," he said sternly.

What has Stella said about Lambiase McLaren replacement rumours?

In response to the idea that GP has been snapped up by McLaren in order to replace Stella, the Italian said: "What I said before is that McLaren, for us, it’s important to employ the best talents in Formula 1 because Zak [Brown] and I want to build the strongest team, not only in the present, but I think we have some good references as to strong teams in the past.

"I have been part of the Ferrari team in the early 2000s, and I know what level of seniority, expertise, leadership you need to be successful in the present and in the future. And employing GP is part of this vision, which is a vision of creating additive leadership that can integrate with the present leadership and create a stronger and stronger team at McLaren.

"So, I very strongly wanted GP to join McLaren. I am personally very stretched in my role as Team Principal, and I need a strong group of leaders working with me. So, I think the plan is very clear. Any other speculation leads us back to the silly season."

READ MORE: McLaren bringing F1 monster to fight Mercedes at Canadian Grand Prix

Written by

Kerry Violet - F1 News Editor

Having graduated from the University of Sheffield with a 2:1 in Journalism in 2022, Kerry continued her pursuit of finding a full-time position in motorsport through work with the F1 Arcade in London, where she got to meet true fans of the sport and make a live grand prix watch party memorable for them. It was here that she confirmed her dream of combining her background in journalism and love of motorsport, going on to volunteer with the female-led platform Empoword Journalism. Having completed stints as a screen editor and sports editor, Kerry landed her first F1-specific editorial role with GPFans and has thoroughly enjoyed continuing to work closely with the sport ever since. The access GPFans offers Kerry has allowed her to interview big names such as Naomi Schiff and David Coulthard and given her experiences she could only have dreamt of as a young F1 fan.

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