Verstappen reveals first reaction to Gianpiero Lambiase's Red Bull Racing exit

Earlier this month, it was announced that Lambiase, also known as GP, will leave Red Bull Racing and join McLaren no later than 2028. He will become the papaya team's Chief Racing Officer.

This move adds to a growing list of key figures leaving the Milton Keynes-based team, including Christian Horner, Adrian Newey, Jonathan Wheatley and Helmut Marko.

Verstappen explained that Lambiase asked him about the offer he had received.

He told Viaplay: "He told me what kind of offer he’d received. I said: ‘You’d be daft not to take it.’"

"He asked me for my approval, so to speak, and I told him he absolutely had to go for it. He really wanted to hear that from me."

The driver and the race engineer developed a strong bond over the decade they have worked together. The Dutchman previously indicated that he would stop racing in F1 if GP was no longer his race engineer.

Some refer to them as the 'old married couple' on the grid.

After last year's Abu Dhabi GP, the Dutchman said: "I’m very happy to be able to work with someone that passionate. Of course, he is my race engineer, but I see him as my friend. We have lived through so many emotional things together and fantastic achievements.