Red Bull have quietly solved one problem and loudly ignored a much bigger one. Tom Hart will replace Gianpiero Lambiase as Max Verstappen‘s race engineer from 2027, with the long-serving performance engineer convinced to stay at Milton Keynes after a near-completed move to Williams was reversed. Meanwhile, Lambiase himself is almost certainly walking out the door before the year is out.
The Lambiase Timeline Is Already Written
Lambiase officially joins McLaren as Chief Racing Officer no later than 2028, but the reality is he is almost certainly beginning gardening leave at the end of this season. Red Bull have already found his replacement, which rather gives the game away. Over 71 race wins and four world championships built together with Verstappen, and it ends with a handshake deal and a gardening leave clause. One of the great engineer-driver partnerships in F1 history, dissolved with spreadsheet efficiency.
Hart Is the Man, But Who Is He Engineering For?
Hart has been embedded in Red Bull’s operation since 2012, serving as Verstappen’s performance engineer before moving into a dual-car role this season. He has already deputised for Lambiase on occasion, including at the 2024 Emilia Romagna GP. The plan is for him to cover a handful of races before the end of 2026 to bed in the relationship before taking over full-time. Verstappen apparently already had Hart in mind as his preferred successor, and Red Bull delivered by blocking his Williams transfer.
The awkward question nobody wants to answer directly: Hart may well be engineering a different driver entirely come 2027. Verstappen sits seventh in the championship, 68 points behind the leading pack after Belgium, and his contract reportedly contains an exit clause if he is outside the top two at the summer break. That deadline is essentially now.
Wolff’s Talent Scout Is Headed to Milton Keynes
The Hart news was paired with confirmation that Red Bull are signing Gwen Lagrue from Mercedes to lead their junior programme. Lagrue spent a decade at Mercedes and is directly responsible for identifying both George Russell and Kimi Antonelli. Toto Wolff confirmed Mercedes is still in discussions with Lagrue about his future, which translates as: he is leaving and they have not finished negotiating the exit. Red Bull see this as proof they can still poach from rivals, which is a reasonable point given how one-sided the paddock talent drain has looked recently.
A Team Rebuilt Around a Man Who Might Leave
Team principal Laurent Mekies has a coherent philosophy: promote internally first, recruit externally when necessary. Hart is the internal promotion. Lagrue is the external recruitment. Both moves make structural sense. The problem is that the entire edifice is constructed around retaining Verstappen, and Verstappen has not committed to anything.
McLaren already has Rob Marshall, Will Courtenay, and Lambiase inbound. Red Bull is building something new. Whether that is enough for the four-time champion to stay is a question only he can answer, and he is in no rush to answer it.
