Red Bull, only Verstappen remains: but for how long? Max could follow Lambiase to McLaren

Verstappen, McLaren sirens Until three years ago, Red Bull was a perfect car, and not just on the track. Behind the car that dominated that World Championship with 21 GPs won out of 22 there was a solid and close-knit structure, with a top-level technical department and an extraordinary icing on the cake by the name of Max Verstappen. However, with the death of founder Dietrich Mateschitz in October 2022, the glue of the team was missing, which slowly fell apart until the farewell of Gianpiero Lambiase, track engineer of the Dutch champion who will go to McLaren in 2028. With Lambiase wearing the papaya colours, Verstappen becomes the last great bastion of that team which interrupted the dominance of Mercedes to in turn begin the second winning cycle of the Milton Keynes brand. Yes, Verstappen: what will Super Max do without “GP”? You might think that the race engineer accepted McLaren’s court because the four-time world champion could retire at the end of the year. But another hypothesis is emerging, namely that of Verstappen joining Lambiase in McLaren. The Telegraaf reports it, always very well informed about the Red Bull driver: for the Dutch, the contacts between the CEO Zak Brown and the manager Raymond Vermeulen date back to the beginning of 2025; and if Verstappen were to be released, Brown would certainly try to bring him to Woking despite Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri having long-term contracts (expiring in 2028 and 2029 respectively). For the Daily Mail, however, Verstappen’s current intention is to remain faithful to Red Bull first and foremost out of gratitude towards the structure that trained him and launched him towards F1. Super Max, who according to the British did not object to Lambiase’s departure and indeed supported his decision, would be willing to wait to see how the season ends. He certainly asks more from his team, which has started the new technical cycle very badly, and from the technical director Pierre Waché (already on the gridiron); above all, it asks more from F1, guilty of having approved a regulation that goes against the DNA of the sport. Verstappen certainly has a very wide range of options. If he decided to stay in Formula 1 (not an obvious choice) and Red Bull did not improve the car, he would have Mercedes, McLaren and Ferrari as possible destinations in front of him, i.e. the cars currently faster than the RB22. Everyone, of course, is interested in Super Max, and should question drivers of caliber such as Russell, Norris, Antonelli and Piastri. The one that would have the least problems from this point of view would be Ferrari, given that Lewis Hamilton could retire at the end of the season.