Gianpiero Lambiase avoids Max Verstappen approach which would ‘lose him within months’

Max Verstappen’s longtime race engineer Gianpiero Lambiase has offered some critical insight into what it’s like to work with one of the most dominant drivers of the modern era.

According to Lambiase, it’s a straightforward relationship — but start pandering to the driver, and you’ll end up outside of his circle of trust within an instant.

Lambiase on working with “crocodile” Max Verstappen

Formula 1 fans don’t have to know his name to recognize the sound of Gianpiero Lambiase’s voice on a broadcast. He’s the collected tone instructing Max Verstappen on the next pit stop, asking about tyres, or allowing the reigning world champion to vent as needed throughout a grand prix.

Getting his start in Formula 1 back in 2005, Lambiase moved to Red Bull ahead of the 2015 season and was the race engineer assigned to a young Max Verstappen midway through the 2016 season when the Dutch driver was promoted up from Toro Rosso.

Since then, the two have formed a successful collaborative bond; GP, as he’s known, is able to give Verstappen clear and direct information, and the driver has expressed his gratitude for it.

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But that doesn’t mean that the relationship between the two is always smooth sailing; in fact, in a recent interview with the Wall Street Journal, GP painted an incredibly vivid picture of what it’s like to serve as the only point of contact for a driver in the thick of an adrenaline-fueled race.

“You’re on a boat down a river, and you’re surrounded by a whole load of crocodiles,” he explained.

“You’re dealing with the closest crocodile to the boat. That’s all we’re doing.

“You have to do what is right for the team and driver at the time, and if you start being concerned about what you’re saying, then I think you’re lost in showbiz.”

That’s part of what makes the GP-Verstappen partnership so successful: The engineer and driver both feel that they can communicate openly and honestly with one another. While the driver is tasked with balancing pace, performance, strategy, car, and body, the engineer is effectively serving as that driver’s only support system.

As Lambiase explains, “You’re his complete circle of friends in one: a dad, a sports psychologist, best friend, worst enemy, everything.

“[Verstappen is] very straightforward, blunt and honest, but he expects that similar level of treatment back.

“If you try to pander to him, wrap him in cotton wool, and try to be his best mate and be that yes-man, you will lose him within months.”

By ‘losing’ Verstappen, Lambiase means that the driver could lose the necessary trust required to make this relationship function. If Verstappen feels that he’s not receiving legitimate feedback — which can often be uncomfortable information to receive — then one of his major pillars of performance has been eroded.

Learning how to communicate effectively with one’s driver is the primary goal of a race engineer, beyond even instructing that driver how to juggle the variables of a grand prix, and Lambiase’s vivid description shows just how critical that relationship is.

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