McLaren reveals surprising detail behind Gianpiero Lambiase coup
Originally published by Motorsportweek
McLaren CEO Zak Brown has revealed details behind his signing of Gianpiero Lambiase, confirming it is to lessen the burden for another member of his Formula 1 leadership team.
The news that Lambiase will defect from Red Bull to McLaren in 2028 continues to send shockwaves throughout the paddock in the buildup to the Miami Grand Prix.
Joining as Chief Racing Officer and reporting into Team Principal Andrea Stella, Lambiase brings a wealth of experience from his time at Red Bull.
Speculation grew that the appointment may be the first step in Stella’s departure from the team, as the Italian continues to be linked with Ferrari.
At a media day at the McLaren Technology Centre on Wednesday, Brown explained the details behind Lambiase’s role, revealing it is to alleviate Stella’s current workload.
“Very excited to have GP join us,” Brown said. “I think my job as CEO is to make sure that we have stability and visibility to the future. I think we’ve got a lot of talented individuals that have room for growth.
“On the racing operations side, Andrea, in reality, kind of has three jobs. I think we sometimes talk about he has two. He actually has three. He’s the team principal, he runs the racing team, and he also plays a big role in kind of a technical director capacity.
“Andrea is kind of the glue that brings that together. Now you’re seeing most teams with the CEO and team principal, now you’re seeing the team principal role evolve.
“And these teams are so big that if you’re going to be great in all those roles – I think Andrea is very capable of doing two jobs – but asking them to do three jobs is a tall order.
“So I think GP will come in and play a great role there, and then my job is always to be looking down the road, as to who can play and grow within the sport. And so certainly, given GP’s experience and his age, is someone I think that can be here for a long time at McLaren and grow.”
Gianpiero Lambiase departure a sign of Red Bull in decline?
Lambaise’s departure is scheduled for 2028, one of a growing number of high profile figures to leave the team, including Christian Horner, Adrian Newey, Rob Marshall and Jonathan Wheatley.
However, Brown believes that the team is experiencing a “reset”, predicting a fightback from the Milton Keynes marque in the not so distant future.
“I think it would be very foolish to write Red Bull off,” said Brown. “I also think Audi has done a very good job. So I think it would be foolish to not think the other teams are going to move up the grid quickly.
“I think things are only going to consolidate over time, not widen, and we see how quickly the sport can change, and how people quickly can get competitive and then sometimes not.
“I think they have to kind of do a little bit of a reset. They lost a lot of people. Christian, Wheatley, GP eventually, Newey, Dan Fallows.
“The majority of their pit wall has changed. I rate Laurent [Mekies], I think he does a very good job. He’s technical, he’s young, and I think he’s got to rebuild the people that he lost and rebuild the team, and I have no doubt he will.
“And much like McLaren, we had an immense amount of talent that just needed to be unlocked, I think that’s probably the same as Red Bull. They’ve been very dominant up to not very long ago. So there’s a lot of talent in there, and I think he’ll just need to get it redirected.”
Brown’s confirmation that Lambiase will take over some of Stella’s duties is an interesting development as speculation grows over the long-term future of McLaren leadership.
Stella still has to complete two full seasons of the status quo before this new methodology starts, a somewhat interesting fact considering Brown called the current one “a tall order.”