Verstappen sees familiar face return at Red Bull for rest of the weekend

Verstappen first drove in FP2 this weekend at the Monza circuit. During the first session on Friday, he handed over his car to Ayumu Iwasa as part of the mandatory rookie sessions in F1.

When Verstappen later took the wheel himself on Friday, there was also a temporary change, as Hart, rather than Lambiase, served as his race engineer.

That happened because Hart is being prepared for his new role at Red Bull Racing, as he will permanently replace Lambiase as the Dutchman's race engineer. The Italian will join McLaren no later than 2028. To gain experience as Verstappen's race engineer, the Briton was given the chance to work directly with the Dutchman in FP2.

For the important Saturday in Monza, however, Red Bull will once again have its usual line-up. GPblog understands that Lambiase will again be Verstappen’s race engineer for the rest of the weekend. This reunites Verstappen and the Briton as a trusted duo for the final preparations ahead of qualifying.

With Lambiase back by his side, Verstappen hopes for a better day than Friday. During that session, a recurring problemonce again hampered the Dutchman. “It was difficult to find the right balance of the car today, and we’ll need to work on that to find a little more lap time tomorrow,” Verstappen commented.

Technical director Pierre Waché already announced that Red Bull would use Friday evening to work on exactly that: “Honestly, it looks a bit like Zandvoort. We’re trying to understand what the issue is and to solve it in different ways, with the setup and with parts of the car. That’s the main thing we’re working on now,” the Frenchman explained.