New Max Verstappen race engineer debut imminent as Lambiase handover process emerges
GianPiero Lambiase has served as Max Verstappen's race engineer since 2016
Tom Hart will stand in for GianPiero Lambiase as Max Verstappen’s race engineer at three of the remaining races of the F1 2026 season, PlanetF1.com understands, starting at next weekend’s United States Grand Prix.
It comes ahead of Hart becoming Verstappen’s new full-time race engineer from 2027 as Lambiase prepares to complete his move to McLaren.
Tom Hart to step in as Max Verstappen’s race engineer at United States Grand Prix
Lambiase, who has served as Verstappen’s race engineer since 2016, announced earlier this year that he will join McLaren as chief racing officer in due course.
McLaren commented at the time that Lambiase will start work at Woking ‘no later’ than 2028.
The 2026 season will therefore mark Lambiase’s last year as Verstappen’s race engineer as he prepares to make the move to his new team.
As reported by PlanetF1.com at the time, it emerged in July that Hart will take over from Lambiase on a full-time basis from 2027.
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Hart, who opted against a move to Williams in favour of remaining at Red Bull, stood in for Lambiase during practice at last month’s Italian Grand Prix at Monza as part of the handover process.
PlanetF1.com understands that the controlled transition will see Hart act as Verstappen’s race engineer for the entire United States Grand Prix weekend.
Hart is also expected to work as Verstappen’s race engineer at the Brazilian and Las Vegas grands prix.
It is understood that Lambiase will be in attendance at all three races, with the McLaren-bound engineer set to reassume his role as Verstappen’s race engineer for the final two rounds in Qatar and Abu Dhabi.
McLaren is believed to be pushing hard for an early release for Lambiase, but there is still no defined timeline for his departure.
It is thought that the picture could become clearer over the coming weeks, with McLaren chief executive Zak Brown commenting at the recent Bahrain Grand Prix in Malaysia that he is “optimistic” that Lambiase will start work with the team “at some point next year.”
Lambiase collected the winning constructor’s trophy on the podium at last weekend’s Singapore Grand Prix after Verstappen claimed a second successive victory.
The race saw the pair combat a problem with the team radio communications, which left Verstappen’s messages largely inaudible.
Appearing in the post-race press conference, Verstappen quipped that Lambiase may have been quietly pleased by the radio silence in Singapore.
He told PlanetF1.com and other media outlets: “Maybe he was happy that it was not working! I couldn’t really say anything.
“He did try at one point to ask me a few things in code and I think he understood well what I meant or did not do. But it’s never nice.
“I’ve been having difficulty with my radio already the whole season and this weekend has been particularly bad.”
Additional reporting by Thomas Maher
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