Jolyon Palmer says an ’empire’ is falling as Gianpiero Lambiase continues Red Bull exodus

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Jolyon Palmer has expressed concern about Red Bull’s future after Gianpiero Lambiase became the latest high-profile figure to leave the team. Lambiase will join rivals McLaren when his contract expires.

Rob Marshall and Adrian Newey, both instrumental in the design of the car, left within the space of a year. Key sporting figures Jonathan Wheatley and Will Courtenay were next before the bombshell sacking of Christian Horner.

Helmut Marko, who ran the team in conjunction with Horner for decades, left by mutual consent at the end of 2025. Lambiase’s departure, confirmed on Thursday, comes only weeks after chief designer Craig Skinner abruptly quit.

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Jolyon Palmer says Red Bull is no longer Max Verstappen’s ‘home’

The biggest exit may still be in the pipeline, with Max Verstappen’s future increasingly uncertain. Speaking on the F1 Nation podcast, Palmer said the four-time world champion’s departure was now ‘inevitable’.

Red Bull have slipped into the midfield at the start of F1’s new regulations. Verstappen, who doesn’t enjoy driving the 2026 machinery, has now lost his ‘linchpin’.

Indeed, Verstappen previously said he would follow Lambiase out of Red Bull if his engineer ever left. They have been working together since 2016.

Asked if the Lambiase announcement would hasten Verstappen’s farewell, Palmer said: “That’s exactly how I see it. We’re already talking about Max probably leaving the team at some point.

Are Red Bull’s days as a top F1 team coming to an end?

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“You’ve got Red Bull not being competitive with not the easiest route back to being competitive when you add in all the personnel that have left.

“For me, GP is such a linchpin; he sort of connects driver to team. I see this as another reason that Max isn’t happy in the team.

“I just don’t, on many levels, see him sticking around particularly long, probably beyond the end of this year, unless they have a concrete plan in place and a good sign of progress.

“His home has moved. The building’s the same, but all the furnishings are gone. He still turns up to work in Milton Keynes, but he says hello to different people in all the different areas.

“Not only that, he’s not fighting for the title, he’s not loving driving the cars… I think it seems inevitable [that he will leave].

Gianpiero Lambiase exit just ‘the tip of the iceberg’ for Red Bull

Palmer thought that Laurent Mekies would ‘stabilise’ Red Bull when he replaced Horner, who had become a polarising figure both internally and externally.

But Mekies now has a dual problem. He has lost some of his most valuable staff, and he may struggle to attract top-level replacements.

“Other people must look at this as an empire falling,” said Palmer. “This is a great Formula 1 team, the amount of success that they’ve had, the ruthlessness that they chased that success, the way they could execute to the maximum of their potential across all the elements.

“Everyone is leaving. We’re talking GP, but this is almost the tip of the iceberg. When you look at all the people that have left, it’s been a rocky time at Red Bull.

“I wondered if it would stabilise a little bit with Laurent at the helm and the fallout of Christian Horner leaving settling a little bit, but when you see more big names leaving, it’s probably not that enticing for people to go and join them either.”

Red Bull haven’t yet confirmed how they plan to replace Lambiase, who served as their head of racing as well as Verstappen’s engineer.