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McLaren insiders deny that Gianpiero Lambiase is set to join from Red Bull in 2028 to replace Andrea Stella, amid links with Ferrari, as they are expected to work together.
News broke this Thursday that McLaren have reached a lucrative agreement with Lambiase, which will see the British-Italian engineer join from Red Bull at the start of 2028. It was even initially claimed that McLaren view Lambiase as their future team principal to replace Stella.
The first reports from Dutch media about the switch suggested that Lambiase has agreed to join McLaren in 2028, as it was also thought that Stella has already signed a pre-contract for Ferrari. Stella worked for Ferrari from 2000-2014, before the Italian joined McLaren in 2015.
Stella took over from Andreas Seidl as the team principal of McLaren in December 2022 and has since led them to the 2024 and 2025 constructors’ titles, along with the 2025 F1 drivers’ championship. But McLaren now believe Stella needs more support, so have eyed Lambiase.
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The news comes from Erik van Haren of De Telegraaf
McLaren privately claim that Gianpiero Lambiase will join to support team principal Andrea Stella
That is according to BBC Sport, which reports that ‘senior insiders’ at McLaren and Red Bull have privately confirmed that Lambiase will switch teams for 2028. McLaren ‘insiders’ have also denied that the team are signing Lambiase as a precursor to Stella returning to Ferrari.
READ MORE: All to know about Max Verstappen’s F1 race engineer, Gianpiero Lambiase
Instead, Lambiase – who is currently Red Bull’s head of racing and Max Verstappen’s F1 race engineer – is understood to have agreed to join McLaren to support Stella. The 45-year-old is expected to join McLaren’s race-operations support structure so Stella has more freedom.
McLaren believe the increasing complexity of the F1 team principal role means Stella needs more support so that he can focus on the leadership aspects of the role. The 55-year-old is currently effectively working as McLaren’s technical director as well as their team principal.
Lambiase will thus focus on racing and trackside aspects when he joins McLaren, which The Race also suggests will largely be to ease some of the strain of the race weekend roles from Stella. McLaren believe Lambiase’s ‘experience and talent’ will be a ‘big help’ going forward.
McLaren face waiting until 2028 for Lambiase to join, as Red Bull are currently expected to hold the British-Italian engineer to his contract through 2027 before a period of gardening leave. It is possible that McLaren could agree to a deal with Red Bull for him to join earlier.
Additionally, Motorsport.com reports that it ‘cannot be ruled out’ that Lambiase may leave Red Bull at the end of 2026 before spending the entirety of 2027 on gardening leave. It has also suggested that Stella is under contract for McLaren until the end of the 2030 season.
Will Max Verstappen keep his word as Gianperio Lambiase leaves Red Bull?
Lambiase has worked for Red Bull since 2015 when he initially joined as the race engineer of Daniil Kvyat, and he retained that role for Verstappen after the Dutchman joined in 2016. He also took over as Red Bull’s head of racing at the start of the 2025 F1 season in a dual role.
It now remains to be seen what impact Lambiase’s decision to join McLaren from 2028 may have on Verstappen’s future at Red Bull. Verstappen has threatened to retire from F1 at the end of 2026 because of his disgust of the new engine regulations as he has a release clause.
Verstappen is highly likely to secure the right to terminate his contract with Red Bull through 2028 early, as he only has to be outside the top two in the F1 drivers’ standings at the 2026 summer break. Red Bull may need a miracle to avoid Verstappen’s release clause activating.
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