Former Haas Formula 1 team principal Guenther Steiner believes Gianpiero Lambiase could make an early switch from Red Bull to McLaren.

Earlier this month it was announced that Max Verstappen’s long-serving race engineer would join McLaren in 2028 following the expiry of his current contract with Red Bull.

Lambiase will report directly to team principal Andrea Stella and offer support to the McLaren boss in the new role of chief racing officer.

But Steiner wouldn’t be surprised to see the British-Italian engineer start work at Woking sooner than 2028.

"I think he will be out of Red Bull pretty soon, and maybe can even start earlier at McLaren but they are not keeping him around, and obviously it's a motivation factor as well," Steiner told the Drive to Wynn podcast.

"If you know you're going somewhere else, it's always difficult. Obviously, you want to do a good job, but is your heart 100%? Maybe only 99%.

“Sometimes that's not good enough in Formula 1, especially in the position they are now, so they will find the best way forward for them and then decide what they do with GP.”

Lambiase is the third senior figure to leave Red Bull and join McLaren, following former chief designer Rob Marshall and ex head of race strategy Will Courtenay.

Steiner praised McLaren for being “very smart” in its approach to strengthening its already-impressive world championship-winning operation.

"McLaren is thinking long-term and it's very smart because Will Courtenay is there from Red Bull as well, very good guy and they have got a very strong team of individuals,” Steiner added.

"They are experienced people they are getting, but they are still young enough to have the drive to do it. These are not people which look for retirement, no they still want to go racing and win so very, very smart.

"But again, what I said before, McLaren was winning the last two years and where you want to work if you're successful is the winning team, and that is how you attract this big talent. That is where they want to be in the future.

"You see your own team is not the dominating team anymore, where do I want to go? To the best team given the opportunity. They didn't go to a small team, they went to the team that was best the last two years."