Delighted Zak Brown breaks silence on McLaren's Lambiase signing

The American, who has acted as CEO of McLaren Racing since 2018, has hired Lambiase as Chief Racing Officer for the Woking team. The Briton has worked for key rivals Red Bull Racing since 2015, forming a formidable driver-engineer partnership with four-time world champion Max Verstappen. He will now move, it seems, away from partnerships with drivers as he takes on a more operational role at the head of a team.

The American commented: “Happy to share that Gianpiero Lambiase will join the McLaren Mastercard Formula 1 Team as Chief Racing Officer, reporting into Team Principal Andrea Stella, when his contract ends no later than 2028.

Yesterday’s announcement comes after months of speculation about Lambiase’s next steps, with rumours circulating about moves to other teams. Despite this interest, it was confirmed in January that he would be staying at Red Bull for the immediate future. He has now accepted McLaren's offer, a team he will join after his Red Bull contract expires.

The acceptance of that offer means that three high-profile Red Bull engineers have now left the team for McLaren. Lambiase will link up Will Courtenay, McLaren’s Sporting Director, and Rob Marshall, their Chief Designer. Marshall joined the team in 2024, while Courtenay only became allied with McLaren at the start of 2026. All three of them work under the leadership of Brown, and Andrea Stella, McLaren’s Team Principal since 2023.

Lambiase first started in F1 with the Jordan team that is now Aston Martin. After spending more than a decade with Red Bull Racing, he will move to McLaren, where the team has been on an upward trajectory since Brown’s arrival in 2018.

Lambiase’s presence at the battle-hardened Red Bull team means that he has the experience of making difficult decisions and could potentially improve the team’s approach.