Oscar Piastri’s ‘strained’ relationship with Zak Brown may see Max Verstappen replace him at McLaren

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Max Verstappen would be more likely to replace Oscar Piastri than Lando Norris if he were to follow Gianpiero Lambiase to McLaren after his Red Bull race engineer’s exit.

Red Bull confirmed this Thursday that Lambiase will leave the team at the end of 2028 in the wake of multiple reports that he has agreed to join McLaren, who have also now announced his signing. Lambiase will take on the role of chief racing officer when he moves to McLaren.

It was initially suggested that Lambiase has agreed to join McLaren in 2028 with the view to him becoming their team principal in the future. But the Woking outfit have made clear that McLaren have signed Lambiase to support Andrea Stella by taking charge of their race team.

Lambiase must wait until 2028 to start working with McLaren, as Red Bull intend to hold the British-Italian engineer to his contract running through 2027. The 45-year-old will, therefore, continue in his role as Red Bull’s head of racing and also as the race engineer of Verstappen.

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The news comes from Erik van Haren of De Telegraaf

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Oscar Piastri is most at risk if McLaren can convince Max Verstappen to leave Red Bull

News of Lambiase’s move to McLaren has also put Verstappen’s future with Red Bull further under the microscope. Verstappen has threatened to retire from F1 at the end of 2026, and he will likely secure the right to terminate his contract with Red Bull through 2028 this year.

READ MORE: All to know about Max Verstappen’s F1 race engineer, Gianpiero Lambiase

Verstappen only needs to be outside the top two in the F1 drivers’ standings at the summer break to have the right to trigger the release clause in his contract. And the Daily Mail notes that McLaren may now emerge as a potential destination should Verstappen leave Red Bull.

The Verstappen camp has historically been reluctant to entertain a move to McLaren. But if McLaren prove they can develop a competitive car under the 2026 F1 regulations, on top of having now hired Lambiase, then Verstappen would be more prepared to consider a switch.

McLaren would even have to offer Verstappen ‘the biggest salary offer F1 has known’, as he is thought to earn around £100m per season at Red Bull. CEO Zak Brown and team principal Stella would then have to decide who Verstappen would replace between Norris and Piastri.

In a straight shoot-out between Norris and Piastri, the latter would be most likely to have to make way for Verstappen to join McLaren. While Brown has a good relationship with Norris, his with Piastri is believed to be ‘slightly strained’ after how the 2025 F1 title fight unfolded.

McLaren faced accusations of favouring Norris over Piastri in 2025 while they both fought to win the F1 title for the first time. It has even previously been reported that Piastri took issue with McLaren blaming him for crashing into Norris at COTA during the F1 Sprint last season.

Additionally, McLaren ordered Piastri to give P2 in the 2025 Italian Grand Prix back to Norris, which the Australian adhered to but questioned as he gained the place owing to the Briton’s slower pit stop. McLaren had assured Norris that he would stay in front if Piastri pitted first.