Christian Horner played ‘key role’ in stopping ‘very honest’ Max Verstappen ally joining McLaren

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Red Bull Racing are preparing for the announcement of where chief technical officer Adrian Newey will be heading next season.

Newey told Red Bull in April that he would be leaving and Aston Martin look set to secure his services.

He follows Rob Marshall out of the door – now at McLaren – and Jonathan Wheatley has since confirmed he will be joining Audi as team principal ahead of their Formula 1 debut in 2026.

A report from Planet F1 has shared how Red Bull have since made sure not to lose any more senior personnel.

Aston Martin attempted to poach Enrico Balbo and Pierre Wache by offering them shares in the team, however, that approach failed.

Paul Monaghan and Ben Waterhouse have also committed their futures to the post-Newey Red Bull era.

Christian Horner is preparing for life without Newey in the team but has received a boost as Max Verstappen’s race engineer Gianpiero Lambiase has reportedly signed a new Red Bull deal.

Horner is said to have played a ‘key role’ in keeping Lambiase who could earn a promotion as a result of Wheatley’s exit.

He’s highly regarded within the team with his team principal and Verstappen both speaking highly of him in the past.

Christian Horner played ‘key role’ in Red Bull keeping Gianpiero Lambiase

The report from Planet F1 suggests that Lambiase – who is also Red Bull’s head of race engineering – signed a new contract just before the summer break.

Lambiase was on the radar of both Ferrari and McLaren but his skills are said to be ‘of the utmost importance’ to Red Bull.

In addition, his loyalty to Horner is said to have played a ‘key role’ in his re-signing.

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Talking about Lambiase last season via F1i, Horner said: “I think to race engineer Max Verstappen you’ve got to have strength of character because he is one tough customer.

“Many race engineers would crumble under that pressure and GP has got the strength of character to deal with that.

“GP is our Jason Statham equivalent, I guess, they certainly look alike…! He deals with him firmly but fairly and there’s a great respect between the two of them.

“The only problem is that conversation between the two of them, 200 million people are listening to.

“But there’s a great bond and a great trust between the two. There’s no counselling required.”

Gianpiero Lambiase vital to Max Verstappen’s success at Red Bull

Lambiase is the man who has to deal with Verstappen on the team radio at every race and unless his car is perfect, the 26-year-old is rarely happy.

Verstappen’s rant during the Hungarian Grand Prix was his most explosive of the season and Lambiase wasn’t particularly impressed on the pit wall with his messages throughout the race.

Speaking about Lambiase to RacingNews365, Verstappen said: “Of course, we have moments where we don’t agree.

“But I think that’s also wanted, because at the end of the day, you want to make each other better, and you want to make the car faster.

“It’s good to be able to have discussions and come [up] with the best solution for it.

“We [are] also very honest to each other, like I am to Helmut and Christian. And I think that makes it so good.”