Zak Brown rejoices for Lambiase and Blinda Stella: “They will work together”

Between confirmations and denials On the convulsive and frenetic morning of Thursday, immediately after the release of the first rumors regarding the sensational transfer of Max Verstappen’s current race engineer, Gianpiero Lambiase, from Red Bull to McLaren, the rumor had spread – spread by some Dutch media who had anticipated Lambiase’s news – that the papaya team principal Andrea Stella would leave the team in 2028, tempted by the suggestion of a return to Ferrari, and that Lambiase would take his place. In the following hours, numerous denials were received in this regard and it emerged that McLaren’s plan was actually to bring Stella and Lambiase together. The definitive confirmation was provided directly by McLaren CEO Zak Brown via social network. In a post published on his Instagram profile, in fact, the Californian manager welcomed Lambiase but also secured Stella’s position at the top of the Formula 1 team: “I am pleased to announce that Gianpiero Lambiase will join the McLaren Mastercard Formula 1 Team as Chief Racing Officer, reporting to Team Principal Andrea Stella, once his contract expires, in 2028 at the latest – wrote Brown, substantially repeating what was written by the team in the official press release – he enters to be part of an extraordinary team led by Andrea and I am excited about what we can achieve together.” No to the changing of the guard, yes to the Dream Team. No alternation at the top, therefore. In fact: Brown’s plan is just the opposite. The desire is to create a sort of dream team that allows Stella and Lambiase to work in synergy, replicating in a technical way that combination which from a managerial perspective has seen Brown and Stella as protagonists in recent years. It is not difficult to think that, in addition to the salary, this work philosophy in which McLaren is investing so much has convinced Lambiase to choose the Woking factory, rejecting for example the very strict court that Aston Martin has given him in recent months.