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Alex Brundle likened Gianpiero Lambiase’s decision to leave Red Bull and join McLaren to Lewis Hamilton’s decision to make the jump to Ferrari last year.
Lambiase will join McLaren after leaving Red Bull in 2028, bringing an end to his decade-plus stint with Max Verstappen.
Lambiase is the latest member of the successful core from this decade to move on from the team, as Red Bull’s dominance enters a decline.
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Lambiase has been considered critical to Verstappen’s success, which is what makes his move to McLaren so sour for Red Bull fans.
However, Alex Brundle believes Gianpiero Lambiase leaving Red Bull is very similar to Lewis Hamilton going to Ferrari to pursue more success.
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Alex Brundle says Gianpiero Lambiase left Red Bull for similar reasons to Lewis Hamilton
Speaking on the Red Flags podcast, F1 commentator Alex Brundle speculated about Gianpiero Lambiase’s exit from Red Bull.
He believes that, much like Lewis Hamilton leaving Mercedes in 2025, Lambiase has decided to join McLaren to chase more success after a strong stint with Red Bull.
“It will literally have come down to GP looking at the marketplace, contract in the balance and that’s the way Formula 1 has always been.
“You look at Hamilton at Mercedes. It looks like an unbreakable, never-ending continuation into the future of the way it’s going to successfully go.
“Then all of a sudden, boom, he’s in red. And that can happen with the engineering personnel too, because they’re chasing success.”
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Alex Brundle claims Gianpiero Lambiase isn’t joining McLaren just ‘for the money’
Speaking further on the episode, Brundle noted that Lambiase, much like many technical staff members, is always striving for success, and decisions like the one Lambiase made are not entirely driven by money.
“It’s not so much the nature of traditional employment, though. You’re dealing with a group of people who are driven, incredibly competitive, can be completely happy with the way that their job role plays out day to day, but are simply in pursuit of a scenario where they have the opportunity to win again.
“Winning is addictive. When you look at the commitment, particularly for engineers who don’t get to drive the car, do the travelling…
“It’s a dream job, but it takes years of commitment. These are incredibly learned and high-performing people. They’re not just doing this for the money. They’re doing this to try and win.”
Lambiase’s decision to join McLaren is him trying to take the next step in his career. And this is to be expected of all major names in the sport, not just the drivers.
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