After Jonathan Wheatley’s departure, the sporting director’s role is vacant at Red Bull. Max Verstappen’s race engineer Gianpiero Lambiase is reportedly the most likely person to take a step up to this role. However, Sky Sports presenter Ted Kravitz feels that his “fun” radio exchanges with Verstappen may make Lambiase reconsider this promotion.
Speaking on the Sky Sports F1 podcast, Kravitz said, “I don’t think he [Lambiase] wants to leave the cut and thrust and the fun of race engineering.” On this, Matt Baker quipped about Verstappen’s sarcastic jibes on the team radio that the Italian engineer has to deal with.
Kravitz replied, “That is quite fun until it’s not. But, it’s fun winning races and winning championships. So, I’m not sure whether GP would want to leave that. But, Red Bull are going to promote from within.”
The Sky Sports presenters know that Red Bull have a competent pool of engineering talent to choose from. Some reports suggest that Red Bull may split the sporting director’s role with two individuals serving as Wheatley’s replacement.
One could be from the mechanics team while another person could be one with a comprehensive understanding of the regulations. Now, Lambiase’s case is peculiar because of how integral he is to Verstappen‘s side of the garage. Lambiase has served as Verstappen’s race engineer since the Dutchman’s debut season at the Milton Keynes outfit in 2016.
Moreover, Lambiase also deserves credit for helping Verstappen win three consecutive championships. Hence, while there is no doubt that Lambiase has played a crucial role in all of Verstappen’s successes so far, their recent radio exchanges in Hungary may result in the former wanting to consider the option of a promotion.
The peak of Verstappen and Lambiase’s radio chatter
Verstappen has been quite frustrated lately due to the lack of competitiveness of the RB20. His struggles worsened at the Hungarian GP as he had to pay the price of several strategic errors as well, besides the issues with the car’s balance.
This led to a set of angry radio messages from Verstappen. With every passing lap, his frustration increased and Lambiase was at the receiving end of the 26-year-old’s rants. However, it wasn’t one-way traffic as the Italian engineer also gave stern responses to not tolerate Verstappen’s unfiltered comments.
Red Bull advisor Helmut Marko criticized both of them for their public exchange but also admitted that the team put them in that situation with several errors. Eventually, they sorted out all the issues before the next weekend in Belgium.
Lambiase and Verstappen’s camaraderie has been the bedrock of the latter’s success at Red Bull. So, the three-time champion would be wary of losing his beloved race engineer despite knowing that if the Italian leaves, it would be due to a promotion.
