McLaren just signed Max Verstappen’s race engineer. And if you think that’s just about hiring a good engineer, you might be missing the bigger picture.
Let’s start with the obvious. Gianpiero Lambiase is one of the best race engineers in Formula 1. Any team would want him. McLaren getting him is a great signing on its own. Nobody is disputing that.
But here’s the thing. McLaren didn’t just sign Lambiase. They signed Rob Marshall, Red Bull’s chief designer, back in 2024. Then Will Courtenay, Red Bull’s sporting director, in January this year. And now Lambiase, the man who has been whispering in Verstappen’s ear since the 2016 Spanish Grand Prix. Three people. All from the same team. All ending up in Woking.
At what point does this stop being recruitment and start being something else?
The Verstappen situation right now
Max Verstappen is not in a good place. He’s said it himself, multiple times now. After finishing eighth at Suzuka, he told the BBC he’s thinking about walking away at the end of the season. Not in 2028 when his contract expires. This year.
“That’s what I’m saying. I’m thinking about everything inside this paddock. Privately I’m very happy.”
— Max Verstappen, BBC Sport, Japanese Grand Prix
He’s currently ninth in the drivers standings with just 12 points. Kimi Antonelli, a 19 year old in his first full season, is leading the championship. George Russell has a race win already. Even Pierre Gasly has outqualified both Red Bulls in back to back races, which tells you everything about where that car is right now.
Verstappen has called the RB22 “undriveable.” He’s described the 2026 regulations as “anti-driving” and compared the battery management to Mario Kart mushroom boosts. He said on camera that he’s not enjoying the sport anymore and that money is not enough of a reason to continue. Those are not the words of someone who is bluffing.
“When you are in P7 or P8 and you are not enjoying the whole formula behind it, it doesn’t feel natural to a racing driver. It’s really anti-driving.”
— Max Verstappen, Sky Sports F1
And here is a detail most people are overlooking. Verstappen has a performance clause in his contract. If he’s not in the top two of the championship by a certin point in the summer, he can walk. Right now, he’s 51 points behind second place. That clause is looking very realisticly triggerable.
Hadjar is making things worse
There’s another uncomfortable layer to this. Isack Hadjar, the 21-year-old rookie who replaced Yuki Tsunoda at Red Bull, is performing remarkably well. He outqualified Verstappen on merit at Suzuka. He’s already being called the closest teammate Max has had since Daniel Ricciardo left in 2018.
Sky Sports rated Hadjar’s qualifying record against Verstappen at 2-1 after three rounds. That doesn’t sound like much, but when you remember that Perez, Lawson, Gasly, and Albon all got destroyed in that same seat, it puts things in perspective.
Hadjar is not faster than Verstappen. Nobody is saying that. But the gap is smaller than it’s ever been, and a lot of that comes down to these new regulations reducing the areas where Max typicaly dominates, like hard braking zones and high-speed corner commitment. The playing field is flatter now. And that’s exactly the kind of thing that makes a four-time champion question what he’s still doing here.
McLaren tried before. It didn’t work.
This isn’t the first time McLaren has thought about Verstappen. Last year, journalist James Allen said on the Red Flags Podcast that he could see Verstappen picking up the phone and calling Zak Brown directly if McLaren had the right car. Allen even sugested that McLaren would be willing to move either Norris or Piastri to make room.
And there is growing evidence to support that. Piastri has been linked with Ferrari for a while now. If he leaves, a seat opens up. And who better to fill it than the best driver of his generation, accompanied by the engineer who knows him better than anyone?
That’s the real question here. Did McLaren sign Lambiase because they need a head of race engineering? Probably yes. But did they also sign him because having Lambiase on the payroll makes a Verstappen move ten times more attractive? Almost certainly.
Mercedes is lurking too
McLaren isn’t the only team watching. Toto Wolff has been chasing Verstappen for years. The yacht meetings, the private dinners, the phone calls during Red Bull’s internal chaos in 2024 and 2025. All documented.
Wolff publicly shut down the 2027 rumors last month, saying he couldn’t be happier with Russell and Antonelli. But here’s the detail.
“We have two drivers with whom we have long-term, multi-year contracts. I could not be happier with either of them. So there is absolutely no reason to even consider a line-up change.”
— Toto Wolff, OE24
Russell’s contract has a performance clause, he needs to hit certain targets for it to automaticaly renew. Antonelli is locked in until 2029. If Russell’s results dip, or if Mercedes decides they want a proven champion rather than a second young driver alongside Antonelli, the door opens.
And Verstappen already drives a Mercedes-AMG GT3 in endurance racing under the banner of Mercedes-AMG Team Verstappen Racing. Wolff was personaly involved in making that happen. Bridges are not just built, they are actively being maintained.
The chess board
So here’s how the pieces line up. Verstappen is miserable at Red Bull. His car is bad. His engineer is leaving. His mechanic of twenty years just quit. The team around him looks nothing like the one that won four titles.
McLaren now has three of Red Bull’s key people. A seat could open if Piastri goes to Ferrari. And Lambiase, the one person Verstappen trusts completly, will be there waiting.
Mercedes has the fastest car, an open contract situation with Russell, and a long history of trying to get Verstappen on board.
And then there’s the third option. Verstappen simply leaves. Goes home. Races at the Nurburgring 24 Hours, does endurance events, spends time with his daughter, and waits to see if F1 ever becomes fun again.
The Lambiase signing might look like a staffing decision. But in Formula 1, nothing is ever just a staffing decision. McLaren knows that if Verstappen walks out of Red Bull, the first person he’ll talk to about his next move is the same person he’s talked to every Sunday for the last ten years.
And that person now works for them.
Who loses a seat?
This is the part nobody wants to talk about. If Verstappen goes to McLaren, somebody has to go. Norris just won the world championship last year and is their number one driver. Moving him makes zero sense.
That leaves Piastri. And the Ferrari links have been persistent enough that it doesn’t feel like pure speculation anymore. Piastri is young, he’s talented, and he would slot right into Maranello’s long term plans. If that domino falls, McLaren gets the seat, and Verstappen gets a car that can actually win.
If he goes to Mercedes instead, it’s probably Russell who makes way, depending on how the season plays out and wether that performance clause holds up. Antonelli is untouchable at 19 and leading the championship.
Either way, the next few months are going to define F1 for the next half decade. And right now, McLaren is positioning itself better than anyone.
