The Lambiase coup The McLaren team has become a major protagonist during this long spring break in F1, which with the cancellation of the Bahrain and Saudi Arabian Grands Prix found itself without races scheduled for the month of April. The Woking team has in fact surprisingly announced the hiring of Max Verstappen’s historic track engineer, Gianpiero Lambiase, from Red Bull for the 2028 season (at the latest). The Italian-English engineer, who for a decade has ‘whispered’ in the ears of the four-time Dutch world champion, will become the team’s Chief Racing Officer in papaya, a role which is currently included in the duties of team principal Andrea Stella but which will be ‘separated’ for the occasion. The announcement of Lambiase’s future change of jersey generated a chain of rumors, fueled above all by the Dutch media, according to which Stella himself was close to leaving the Woking team to make a sensational return to Ferrari as team principal. A suggestion which however quickly deflated following the denials of all the protagonists involved. Stella silences the rumors Speaking to the official channel of the McLaren team, the Italian team principal wanted to respond personally, between piqued and ironic, to these market rumors that he was leaving the team that with his leadership brought him back to the top of Formula 1 after so many difficult years: “Honestly, some of the rumors that have circulated recently, including those relating to astronomical salaries and presumed pre-contracts, made me smile”, commented Stella. “It almost seems like the ‘silly season’, which usually starts before the summer, has arrived early. By now I’m quite used to this kind of thing and I take it with a smile. It almost seems like some envious pastry chef tried to ruin the preparation of a good dessert at the McLaren pastry shop. However, we know very well how to distinguish good ingredients from poisoned biscuits…”, declared the manager from Orvieto.




















