Max Verstappen got 'frustrated' after working with Red Bull's Gianpiero Lambiase replacement

Max Verstappen was working with his future Red Bull F1 race engineer at the United States Grand Prix and according to a former F1 star they are having teething troubles.

Since joining Red Bull at the Spanish Grand Prix in 2016, Verstappen has worked with Gianpiero Lambiase, with the duo winning four drivers' world championships together.

But Lambiase will be leaving Red Bull to join McLaren, officially in 2028, but he will effectively leave the team much sooner after the end of the season to serve gardening leave prior to arriving at the Woking team.

Lambiase's replacement for 2027 has already been identified in Tom Hart, who had been on the verge of joining Williams before being told he would replace Lambiase.

To try and make the transition as smooth as possible, Hart engineered Verstappen at the United States Grand Prix with Lambiase still active in the background in Austin as head of race engineering.

However, following back-to-back wins in Malaysia and Singapore, the US Grand Prix did not run smoothly for Red Bull, with Verstappen complaining about the performance of his car all weekend.

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Verstappen and Hart's US GP issues

Despite qualifying on the front row, the four-time world champion never looked like troubling race winner Kimi Antonelli and was even passed by Charles Leclerc's Ferrari for second place before securing a podium.

Juan Pablo Montoya identified Verstappen's communications with Hart as a weak point in Austin, saying there wasn't a clear message between them.

He told Marca: "We can see that with Verstappen , because in Austin he was without Gianpiero Lambiase as his engineer, and we saw a Max who didn't have a clear message.

"He worked with Tom Hart , perhaps a bit quieter and more passive than Lambiase, and that's not a bad thing, but it is new for Max.

The seven-time grand prix winner with Williams and McLaren claimed the reason behind Verstappen's frustrations was Hart not being assertive enough on the radio.

He added: "He got frustrated, like we all have. We don't want them to speak to us calmly, we want them to be firm and clear about what we need. Not something coy."

Red Bull's Verstappen and Hart plan

At this weekend's Mexican Grand Prix, Verstappen will be back with Lambiase but Hart will be recalled as the Dutchman's race engineer for the grands prix in Brazil and Las Vegas.

What's clear is replacing Lambiase and Verstappen's relationship was never going to be easy.

Red Bull's plan to get Hart working with Verstappen more before a full-time transition in 2027 is crucial to laying the foundations for their future relationship.

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