Max Verstappen isn’t the easiest driver to work with, and perhaps that’s what makes him and his team so successful. Red Bull, which has been his home in F1, has a solid personality in Gianpiero Lambiase to deal with him as his race engineer, and together they have forged a partnership that Rob Smedley feels is perfect.
Rather than praising Verstappen for his obvious generational talent behind the wheel, Smedley shone a light on Lambiase when asked about their dynamic on the Red Flags Podcast. The former Ferrari race engineer emphasized the need for drivers and race engineers to have a completely open relationship.
“Between Max and GP, they’ve definitely got that relationship right,” he said. “GP tells him how it is and Max will fight back.”
Smedley also noticed a similarity between himself and Lambiase, which revolved around asking their respective drivers to take accountability when they make a mistake. “Sometimes the drivers can get slightly sociopathic with their views on the team. These are guys that are staying up until midnight, working for you.”
Smedley would have drivers go to the garage to apologize to team members if they behaved badly, a practice that Lambiase has also continued, he pointed out. This would have likely happened after the 2024 Hungarian GP, where a frustrated Verstappen lashed out at Lambiase and the rest of the team on the radio.
Verstappen’s outburst on the radio
Verstappen was dealing with a very off-balance RB20 at the Hungaroring last year, and his race pace was absolutely woeful. This, coupled with the fact that McLaren had taken over as the fastest team on the grid frustrated Verstappen immensely, and Lambiase took the brunt of it.
The Dutchman qualified in P3 for the race, but penalties and poor speed limited him to just a P5 finish. There was a point in the Grand Prix where a fed-up Lambiase called Verstappen’s antics ‘childish’, leading to rumors of a potential rift between the two, who had achieved so much success together.
Those claims were shut down very soon, but Red Bull did take note of how Verstappen had behaved and if Smedley’s admission was correct, the Dutchman definitely apologized to those in the garage. Commentators speculated that Verstappen’s irritable behavior was due to staying up all night to participate in the Virtual 24 Hours of Spa, a sim race he won.
His sim-racing activities had never interfered with his on-track performance before, and although Red Bull denied any link to the incident, there were rumors that he was banned for taking part in similar activities again. Verstappen soon came out to deny the ban rumors and urged Red Bull not to meddle in his personal affairs.
