Verstappen has just two races left with Lambiase after F1 confirms Gulf finale

Lambiase is leaving Red Bull for a senior role at McLaren. Under Red Bull's handover plan, Tom Hart is scheduled to return to Verstappen's radio in Sao Paulo and Las Vegas, while Lambiase handles Mexico, Qatar and Abu Dhabi.

Hart has already done Brazil, which leaves next weekend's Las Vegas Grand Prix as his last outing before Lambiase takes the radio back for the final two rounds. GPblog covered the original rotation in Verstappen gets Lambiase replacement for next three F1 races.

Imola had been held in reserve in case conditions in the Middle East made the last two rounds impossible. Organisers were told on Tuesday that Imola would not be needed after the deadline for switching a race to Italy passed. An F1 spokesperson was blunt about the reasoning: "We cannot let Imola wait indefinitely."

There is still a caveat. Both races remain subject to security assessments, with F1 prepared to cancel either event if conditions deteriorate. Any dramatic late development in the region would mean the F1 season will simply end two weeks and two races early in Las Vegas. In that case, Lambiase's last race on Verstappen's radio would already have happened in Mexico.

Hart's stints have been mixed. His first full weekend in Austin came as Verstappen's winning streak ended with P3 in Texas. In Brazil, Verstappen started 21st and still finished second behind Lando Norris, although the weekend was dominated by complaints about the car rather than the engineering partnership.

Laurent Mekies has said the alternating schedule is part of a plan and not a verdict on either man. "It is part of our plan that we will continue to switch between Tom and GP until the end of the year," the Red Bull team principal said. He also admitted that the bond Lambiase built over the years cannot just be handed over: "You cannot create such a relationship out of nothing. But I have full confidence that he will increase the level and build that relationship with Max."

Hart is hardly a stranger. He has served as Verstappen's performance engineer since 2020, and he stayed at Red Bull after extracting himself from a planned move to Williams once it was announced in April that Lambiase would be leaving.

What ends in Abu Dhabi is the partnership behind Verstappen's whole Grand Prix career at the front. In October, Lambiase had engineered Verstappen to all 73 of his grand prix wins and four world titles. Since then Lambiase has added one more. In Mexico, with Charles Leclerc closing in, he told his driver: "Need one of your magic Mexico stints here, Max." Verstappen held on for his sixth win at the Mexico GP.

The last two races still matter for the result too. After Brazil, Verstappen is second in the drivers' standings on 279 points, ahead of George Russell on 262 and Lewis Hamilton on 261. Lambiase will be on the radio for the fight to keep that runner-up spot.

He is one of several title-era figures heading out of Milton Keynes, as set out in GPblog's article explained on how Verstappen's title-winning Red Bull crew is breaking up.