Laurent Mekies reveals GianPiero Lambiase’s McLaren talks centred on team principal role

Laurent Mekies has said that his conversations with GianPiero Lambiase about leaving Red Bull were all about him becoming team principal at McLaren.

Max Verstappen’s race engineer is set to depart Red Bull to join McLaren by the F1 2028 season, with Lambiase set to bolster the leadership team at the Woking squad.

Laurent Mekies discusses GianPiero Lambiase’s McLaren future

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In April, McLaren announced that Lambiase will join the team as Chief Racing Officer and will report to team boss Andrea Stella.

The 45-year-old British-Italian currently works as Max Verstappen’s long-term race engineer, a position he has occupied since 2016, and was promoted through two separate step-ups to become Red Bull‘s head of racing in late 2024.

He is under contract with the Milton Keynes-based squad until 2028, meaning he will be joining “no later” than that season.

However, ever since the announcement, speculation has abounded that Lambiase is actually set to become the team principal of McLaren – although perhaps not immediately – a move that isn’t unthinkable, given the current status quo is more akin to a sideways move rather than a clear step up in responsibility.

With Andrea Stella settled and successful in that role, and nowhere near retirement age, the establishment of what could be a succession plan does seem somewhat premature, even by 2028.

In Miami, a back-and-forth between McLaren CEO and Red Bull’s Laurent Mekies emerged after the Frenchman indicated Lambiase is leaving Red Bull to become the team boss at Woking, a situation that is directly at odds with the information directly from McLaren.

“GP had an extraordinary opportunity,” Mekies said.

“You know he’s going to be a team principal there. It’s not something that I can do anything else than wishing him well.”

With Brown and McLaren having shut down that suggestion, the American responded by saying Mekies “knows something I don’t” with that comment, leading him to pop in and visit the Red Bull hospitality to discuss the matter with Mekies.

The topic was brought up again in the Canadian Grand Prix press conference, with Mekies clarifying his position as remaining unchanged: Lambiase’s conversations with him about leaving Red Bull were on the basis of leaving to become McLaren team boss.

“Look, it’s certainly my understanding that GP [GianPiero] is going to McLaren to become a team principal. That’s what I told you at the time,” Mekies said.

“Obviously, we had a number of conversations before he was going to make the decision.

“Now, don’t ask me if it’s going to happen. The timing of it is none of my business. I can just tell you the content of our conversations.”

With Lambiase and Max Verstappen establishing a ‘brothers-in-arms’ type relationship over their decade together as driver and race engineer, the closeness of their partnership has raised the obvious hypothetical that the Dutch driver could also move over to McLaren if Red Bull’s form doesn’t return to the point of winning races and challenging for titles.

“No, I’m not concerned with Max following GP there,” Mekies said of this scenario.

“We always have this joke, we are not going to ask Max every week if he’s going to stay. So Max is telling us he’s happy at Red Bull. He is involved in every strategic decision we are making, is at the heart of the project, is pushing with us, and we both swore the same thing, getting back to a more competitive package, and he’s central to that.”

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With Stella sitting alongside Mekies, the Italian addressed the speculation and revealed that he is “stretched in his role” as team principal, and needs additional support.

“What I said before is that for us, it is important to employ the best talents in Formula 1, because Zak and I want to build the strongest team,” he said.

“Not only in the present, but I think we have some good references as to strong teams in the past. I’ve been part of the Ferrari team in the early 2000s, and I know what level of seniority, expertise, and leadership you need to be successful in the present and in the future.

“Employing GP is part of this vision, which is a vision of creating additive leadership that can integrate with the present leadership and create a stronger and stronger team at McLaren.

“I very strongly wanted GP to join McLaren. I am personally very stretched in my role as team principal, and I need a strong group of leaders working with me.

“So I think the plan is very clear. Any other speculation leads us back to the silly season.”

The speculation surrounding Lambiase’s move, regardless of his eventual position, is one of several question marks surrounding McLaren and Red Bull, with other rumours including Stella himself needing replacing due to a potential move to Ferrari, which has been denied, and that Oscar Piastri could jump ship to Red Bull.

“You mentioned the silly season, and I think we are already fully in this silly season,” Stella said of the rumours.

“When we think about Oscar, we couldn’t be happier. I think we are seeing the best Oscar in the cockpit, and also a happy Oscar, and the best version of himself outside the cockpit.

“Great dynamics and relationship with Lando, and I think the team in it is in its strongest shape since I’ve been team principal.

“So, definitely, it’s very clear the direction for maximum stability at McLaren.

“When it comes to myself, I’m definitely fully committed to McLaren. One of the things that makes me prouder of my experience as a team principal is that we managed to fill the cabinet at MTC with trophies, and this meant that we needed to create another area of the cabinet, a new one.

“For me, the mission is very clear. We need to fill that new area of the cabinet for the years to come at McLaren.

“GP is very simple. At McLaren, we want to employ the best people in Formula 1, the best expertise, the best leaders, and the fact that GP decided to join McLaren, for me, just speaks to the credibility of our team.

“So, silly season, what’s important for us is stability, and that the best talents in Formula 1 want to join McLaren.”

On the driver line-up front, Mekies said it’s not something Red Bull is paying any attention to at present.

“We have a very, very strong driver lineup, and the driver choice is not a question that we are asking ourselves right now,” he said.

“We have Max; nobody needs to present Max. He is putting us through a fairly complicated start of the season, and Isack is doing a very, very good job.

“He has been dealing extremely well with a complicated car in the first three races, being very close to Max. He had a bit of a more difficult weekend in Miami, but we can see here straight away he’s been in good form this morning, and, as far as we are concerned, we are super happy with the two guys behind the wheel.”

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