‘The day Max and I stop working together…’ – did Lambiase drop a hint?

“The day Max and I stop working together in this set-up will be the day I’m keen to take on a new challenge.”

Gianpiero Lambiase may have dropped the biggest hint yet about Max Verstappen’s Formula 1 future — and it dates back to 2023.

Max Verstappen future questioned after Gianpiero Lambiase McLaren move

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Because, after speculation over the last two years, PlanetF1.com can confirm that Verstappen’s long-standing race engineer and Red Bull’s head of racing will leave the team to join McLaren.

It’s understood that this move will not take place immediately, with sources suggesting that GP will head to McLaren only in 2028.

But what does that mean for Max?

Verstappen joined Red Bull in early 2016 when he replaced Daniil Kvyat at the Spanish Grand Prix and immediately put his RB12 onto the top step of the podium. He went on to add 70 wins to that first, four world titles, and records for most wins in a single season, 19 in 2023, and the longest winning streak with 10 on the trot in 2023.

Almost every success was achieved with GP as the voice in his ear.

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“GP and I have been working together for a few years,” Verstappen said in 2021, “we have a very good and honest relationship, I think.

“He really understands what I need from the car, and also how I can feed back things to him. Of course, we have moments where we don’t agree. But I think that’s also wanted, because at the end of the day, you want to make each other better, and you want to make the car faster.

“It’s good to be able to have discussions and come [up] with the best solution for it. We [are] also very honest to each other, like I am to Helmut and Christian. And I think that makes it so good.”

Two years later, as F1’s “married couple” as per Helmut Marko and Christian Horner fought for another title, Verstappen said: “Oh yes [we disagree], a lot. But that’s also part of the kind of marriage we’re in. I think it’s good because he always tries to get the best out of me and I try to get the best out of him.

“And at the end of the day, you make a lot of calls together. Of course also with more people involved. At the end of the day when it goes to the set-up of the car, it’s between us. And you have to trust each other. Sometimes you might disagree but that’s important sometimes.”

Like Sonny and Cher, PB&J, there was no Max without GP.

Even GP acknowledged this.

“The day Max and I stop working together in this set-up will be the day I’m keen to take on a new challenge,” he told De Telegraaf in 2023.

“I don’t think it would be fair to another driver if we tried to replicate what I’ve been doing with Max since May 2016.

“I see this as something incredibly special and don’t think anything like it will happen again. So I hope we’ll definitely continue on this basis until at least 2028 [when Verstappen’s contract expires]. Unless he or the team decides otherwise, of course.”

2028, though, is no longer the deadline. It’s 2027 – if not sooner.

GP is set to leave Red Bull, taking up a role at McLaren in 2028 which means he will likely be put on gardening leave for six, if not 12, months.

It begs the very real question, has GP given us the biggest hint yet that Verstappen won’t see out his 2028 contract?

Although Verstappen has a contract with Red Bull for a further two seasons after this year, the 28-year-old has made it well known that he is not enjoying Formula 1’s “Mario Kart” “anti-racing” era.

And it’s not just because Red Bull is not winning. He doesn’t like the battery harvesting and super-clipping that means even a qualifying lap is no longer flat-out from start to finish.

Instead, the drivers are having to lift-and-coast as they harvest battery power to deploy later in the lap. The fastest driver in the fastest car still wins, but in very different circumstances to yesteryear.

Verstappen has made it know he is not having “fun”, and with 71 wins and four world titles, enjoyment is the only reason he’s still on track.

Verstappen is not having fun, and at the end of next season he also won’t have Lambiase in his corner. The old married couple will be getting divorced.

But will that be it for Verstappen in F1? GP has hinted so.

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