Red Bull team principal Laurent Mekies has drawn a line under the saga around Gianpiero Lambiase, confirming the long-time race engineer is leaving the energy drinks giant for a step up at McLaren — and warning rivals that the move is the start of a new transfer dynamic, not the end of one.
Speaking in Miami on May 7, Mekies treated Lambiase's exit as a promotion to be celebrated rather than a defeat to be processed. "Now GP had an extraordinary opportunity. You know, he's going to be a team principal there," he said, stretching the engineer's responsibilities at McLaren beyond the simple race-engineer role he has fulfilled at Red Bull since 2017.
The Frenchman's message was measured but pointed. He acknowledged that Red Bull cannot pretend the loss is meaningless, but he refused to be drawn into a tit-for-tat hiring war with the constructors' champions.
"First of all, we talk very often with Zak and with my other colleagues. So it's not related to one thing or another, but certainly none of us wanted to go into a ping-pong about it. We had a good chat about it, like we always do, and we move on."
Mekies framed the Lambiase departure inside a wider, deliberate Red Bull policy that has already seen Williams's James Vowles pluck Mercedes aerodynamics chief Claire Simpson and ignited speculation about further senior moves between Brackley, Woking and Milton Keynes.
"I have said it many times, we don't want to be defensive about the fact that we lost some talent. It's a fact. If and when we need to go and get a specific set of skills or experience from some of our dear competitors around the pitlane, we will do it — as we have done before."
The McLaren response was equal parts reassurance and amusement. CEO Zak Brown, asked at the same Miami media session whether Lambiase's signing was a precursor to a bigger play involving an unhappy Oscar Piastri, batted the suggestion away with a smile. "He knows something I don't, apparently. I've got one, and I've got a great one. I've got the best one in pitlane, Andrea Stella. So I couldn't be happier with Andrea."
Stella himself was even more direct, taking aim at the swirl of paddock gossip linking him to a sudden Red Bull move. "Honestly, some of the recent rumours, including those regarding astronomical salaries and mythical pre-contracts, have made me smile."
The context for those denials is unmistakable. Verstappen's race-engineer pairing with Lambiase has been one of the defining radio relationships of the hybrid era, full of clipped sarcasm and championship-winning calls. Losing it for 2027 forces Red Bull to rebuild not just a strategic partnership but the unique cultural shorthand that has propelled four straight drivers' titles.
For McLaren, the prize is plain: Lambiase will join a team that already has the constructors' trophy on the cabinet and is now stockpiling experience for the new 2026 regulation cycle. For Red Bull, Mekies has chosen to project calm — but his line about going to "competitors around the pitlane" reads more like a warning shot than an assurance.
Source: newsformula.one