Laurent Mekies tells McLaren that Gianpiero Lambiase won’t join for another two years

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Gianpiero Lambiase will see out his Red Bull contract before making his move to McLaren, team principal Laurent Mekies says.

It was confirmed earlier this month that Lambiase would join McLaren as their new chief racing officer. The engineer has worked for Red Bull since 2015, most notably as Max Verstappen’s race engineer.

Lambiase is seen as one of the most important contributors to Verstappen’s success at Milton Keynes. The Dutch driver has won four world championships and 71 races – the third-most with a single team.

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‘Fantastic professional’ Gianpiero Lambiase will complete Red Bull contract

Lambiase is under contract until the end of 2027, but in cases like this, the two teams often reach an agreement to facilitate an earlier departure.

However, Mekies told Sky Sports that Red Bull will ‘of course’ keep Lambiase for as long as they can.

While McLaren are adamant that Andrea Stella has no plans to leave, Lambiase is seen as a potential successor to the Italian in the long term.

“First, we have GP with us for the next two years,” said Mekies. “We don’t feel that GP has left already, because we know he has a long-term agreement with us and we have a few more wins and battles together.

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“He has had an extraordinary opportunity. We respect the fact that this sort of opportunity comes once in a lifetime. He has decided to take it.

“It’s something we’ve been discussing with him for a very long time. We only wish him well in that next phase. When the time comes, we will make sure we turn that into an opportunity for our people and the skillset we want.

“GP is a fantastic professional and we know he’s going to give the absolute best. Of course, we are going to keep him.”

McLaren recently signed strategy boss Will Courtenay from Red Bull and he started his new role months earlier than initially forecast. It seems Lambiase won’t be given that opportunity, though there’s no indication that he’s agitating to leave.

Laurent Mekies says Red Bull still have ‘the best’ staff in F1

Lambiase is the latest senior figure to leave Red Bull. Car designers Adrian Newey and Craig Skinner have also departed in recent times, along with pit wall pillars Courtenay and Jonathan Wheatley.

These exits, combined with the sacking of Christian Horner and the mutually-agreed farewell to Helmut Marko, have totally changed the face of the Red Bull team.

But Mekies insists Red Bull still have ‘the best’ people in F1 and says the external interest in their staff is a testament to their talent development.

• READ MORE: Helmut Marko says Red Bull have already replaced Gianpiero Lambiase without announcing it

“We don’t want to be defensive about the number of talents that have left in the last few years. It’s been present for quite a long time.

“There is one thing we are sure [of], we have the best people. There is no other topic on the campus than making sure we create the right environment to attract, develop, retain our people.

“If we have lost so many people, it also highlights how much of a talent factory this place is. We develop our people, they improve their skills, their abilities, they contribute to our success, and some of them may have left.”