McLaren Confirms Lambiase Will Join to Strengthen Senior Leadership, Not Replace Stella

Overview

• McLaren has announced that Gianpiero Lambiase will join as chief racing officer and report to team principal Andrea Stella in a leadership role to be in place no later than 2028.
• Andrea Stella said he actively pushed for Lambiase because he is 'very stretched' in his duties and needs extra senior leaders to share day-to-day responsibilities.
• Red Bull’s Laurent Mekies publicly suggested Lambiase was headed to McLaren with the intention of eventually becoming a team principal, a claim McLaren has rejected.
• Face-to-face talks in the paddock between McLaren and Red Bull executives have calmed public tensions but Mekies’ original comments remain on the record and fuel continued scrutiny.
• Lambiase’s move matters because he is Max Verstappen’s long-time race engineer and a major source of operational know-how, with any earlier start dependent on a negotiated release from Red Bull.