Three-time F1 champion, Max Verstappen has become infamous for being not-so-cordial with his race engineer, Gianpiero Lambiase on the team radio. After the explosive events of the 2023 United States GP, F1 expert and ex-Ferrari manager, Peter Windsor has come out pointing fingers at GP for Verstappen’s COTA outburst, per F1Maximaal.nl.
The last time the two got into a tiff was last Sunday. During the race in Austin, Verstappen was looking to wrap up his 50th Grand Prix win. However, his momentous occasion got marred in a pretty intense squabble with his race engineer mid-race.
After the race, Lambiase came onto the radio comms and told Verstappen, “I will see you Friday,” informing him that he was not going to attend the debrief. But Christian Horner clarified to Sky Sports F1, “He’s had to rush back to the UK so he was rushing to catch a flight so yeah.”
Windsor blames Gianpiero Lambiase for distracting Max Verstappen
According to Peter Windsor, Verstappen was not to blame for his angry antics on the team radio. Given how things unfolded, the ex-Scuderia insider was pretty sure that Lambiase should’ve been more careful about how he conducted his duties during the race.
During last weekend’s race at the Circuit of the Americas, Verstappen was the most under pressure he’s been for a long time. With Lando Norris and Lewis Hamilton breathing down his neck, Verstappen was also nursing a brake issue. Lambiase, doing his job, kept updating the Dutchman about the gaps behind. However, Verstappen on more than one occasion, snapped back at him furiously about not talking to him while he was in the braking zones
Verstappen was pretty miffed about Lambiase’s constant interjections in the braking zones. Windsor believes that the 3x champion’s anger was justified. He explained on his YouTube livestream (as quoted by F1Maximaal), “He really had to pay attention to the way he had to brake. Because he had to do it in a way that he is not used to. I think that distracted him a lot during the race. They have the GPS data. They know where the long straight is. So they should know when they can talk to Max and when they can’t.”
No trouble in paradise for Verstappen and Lambiase
Despite their regular bust ups, the duo of Max Verstappen and Lambiase share a solid bond. Team Principal, Christian Horner probably distilled the essence of their camaraderie perfectly when he said, “The relationship they have is more like an old married couple. Almost debating about which channel of television they should be watching.”
It is a little known fact, but Lambiase was actually meant to partner with Sebastian Vettel and not Verstappen. The man who is currently eclipsing Vettel’s legacy with the team was not even in the picture when Lambiase joined the team.
Horner revealed to Motorsport.com, “He [GP] went through a grueling process that included being interviewed at length by Sebastian to become Rocky’s successor [as Vettel’s race engineer]. And he committed to join the team and shortly afterwards Sebastian buggered off to Ferrari! So, he came to engineer Sebastian Vettel and got Daniil Kvyat.” In 2016, Verstappen replaced Kvyat at Red Bull, effective from the 2016 Spanish GP onwards.
