Who is Tom Hart? Max Verstappen’s next race engineer after Lambiase departs

Tom Hart is due to become Max Verstappen’s race engineer at Red Bull, once the Dutchman’s lengthy driver-engineer partnership with GianPiero Lambiase comes to an end, after ‘GP’ moves to McLaren by 2028 to become its chief racing officer.

Already a longtime performance engineer within Red Bull, Hart is set to step up to become a race engineer with the four-time World Champion when Lambiase departs.

Tom Hart career: Path to becoming Max Verstappen’s race engineer

A graduate of mechanical engineering from Warwick University, Hart had short time as a political researcher for a UK Member of Parliament before he first joined Red Bull in 2012, as an industrial placement student.

He spent a year on the programme before graduating into the team’s race engineering department.

After a further year, Hart then moved into the team’s simulator department, becoming a simulator performance engineer for more than five years.

The simulator team works hard behind the scenes to ensure its at-track data correlates, with test and simulator drivers trialling different setups to maximise performance.

Hart took on his current role of performance engineer in early 2020, and has been a longtime presence among Verstappen’s engineering team ever since.

The Briton had been touted for a move to Williams earlier this year to work alongside Alex Albon, but reports suggested either Red Bull team principal Laurent Mekies, or even Verstappen himself, sought to block Hart’s move away as both a valued member of Red Bull, with a future vacancy as the Dutchman’s race engineer soon to emerge.

Hart will not be a direct replacement for Lambiase in his head of racing role, however. Hart will become Verstappen’s race engineer, with senior paddock figure Tom McCullough due to arrive in 2027 to take on Red Bull’s head of racing duties.

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When will Tom Hart become Max Verstappen’s race engineer?

Lambiase will be joining McLaren “no later than 2028”, with CEO Zak Brown having hopes of Verstappen’s longtime race engineer moving to the Woking-based squad within 2027.

As part of the transition process, Hart will be taking on race engineering duties for Verstappen at the triple-header of the United States, Mexico City and Sao Paulo Grands Prix, with Lambiase returning to his usual duties for the final races of 2026.

Lambiase’s official Red Bull departure date has not been publicly confirmed at time of writing, but Hart will likely become Verstappen’s full-time race engineer during 2027.

Hart will become the third engineer to work with Verstappen overall, with Simon Rennie, who previously worked with Daniel Ricciardo at the team, stepping in for Lambiase as he missed two races in the 2025 season.

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