Zak Brown draws Lewis Hamilton parallel in ‘uncomfortable’ GianPiero Lambiase warning

Zak Brown suggested that an “uncomfortable” situation for Red Bull could develop if GianPiero Lambiase continues with the team.

Lambiase has agreed a future move to McLaren, though Red Bull team principal Laurent Mekies has stated that Lambiase will remain in Milton Keynes for the “next two years”. Brown compared the situation to when Lewis Hamilton agreed to join Ferrari, with regard to the restriction of knowledge Lambiase could face at Red Bull.

Zak Brown warns Red Bull over Gianpiero Lambiase situation

Want more PlanetF1.com coverage? Add us as a preferred source on Google to your favourites list for news you can trust.

Lambiase is to join McLaren as the team’s chief racing officer no later than 2028.

He has played a key role at Red Bull since arriving in 2015, most notably as Max Verstappen’s long-serving race engineer.

But, while Lambiase will take up a “once in a lifetime” opportunity at McLaren, Red Bull is not ready to let him go just yet.

“We have ‘GP’ with us for the next two years,” Red Bull team principal Laurent Mekies told Sky F1.

Following that statement, the broadcaster asked McLaren Racing CEO Zak Brown whether McLaren believes it can get Lambiase through the door before 2028.

“We know how this game works,” said Brown.

“At some point, it’ll be probably uncomfortable having someone that you know is going to a rival team.

“My general view is, if someone wants to move on, you need to do it in a measured way. But if someone doesn’t want to be at my team anymore, I’ve never been one that feels like people steal people from each other, drivers, sponsors, you lose them or they have interest in something else.

“So, ’28 is when his contract is through. We’ll wait, if that’s what’s necessary. If there’s something to be done earlier, then, of course, we’d be interested.

“But I think right now, we’re all stuck into ’26.”

Put to him that there needs to be firewalls between any knowledge Lambiase could pass to McLaren and what he could gain during that time, Brown continued: “Yeah. It makes things uncomfortable, right.

More on GianPiero Lambiase from PlanetF1.com

Verstappen accepts Lambiase Red Bull exit as ‘times change’ ahead of 2028

Zak Brown addresses Andrea Stella Ferrari rumours after GianPiero Lambiase signing

“If I had someone in my racing team that I knew was going, whether it’s a racing driver… You see it in racing drivers. You hear about it with racing drivers.

“When Sir Lewis went to Ferrari, announced it early, at some point, Mercedes starts, understandably, cutting off knowledge that he might have.

“And that’s just how the business works.

“So, we’ll see how it plays out. We’ve got time. We know we’re all settled for ’26, so we’ll chat about it when the time’s right.”

Lambiase will report to McLaren team principal Andrea Stella once he arrives as chief racing officer.

Want to be the first to know exclusive information from the F1 paddock? Join our broadcast channel on WhatsApp to get the scoop on the latest developments from our team of accredited journalists.

You can also subscribe to the PlanetF1 YouTube channel for exclusive features, hear from our paddock journalists with stories from the heart of Formula 1 and much more!

Read next: Zak Brown responds after Red Bull’s GianPiero Lambiase team principal claim