Verstappen exclusive: It’s like a marriage with race engineer Lambiase

Max Verstappen has opened up about the dynamics between himself and his Formula 1 race engineer Gianpiero Lambiase in an exclusive interview with RacingNews365.com.

Lambiase has been the radio voice behind all of Verstappen’s 35 Grand Prix victories, having worked as the Dutchman’s race engineer since he earned promotion from Toro Rosso to Red Bull at the 2016 Spanish Grand Prix.

Sitting down exclusively with RacingNews365.com, Verstappen was asked if he, like other drivers, had a brotherly type of relationship with his race engineer.

“Probably more like a marriage,” joked Verstappen, “sometimes [we’re] screaming and shouting a little bit at each other, [but] it’s good.

“We just have to determine who is the husband and who is the wife!”

Lambiase anticipated a different driver pairing

Before Red Bull, Lambiase worked for the Jordan team, and stayed through the evolutions through Midland, Spyker and finally Force India, where he stayed until 2014, briefly working with Verstappen’s current teammate, Sergio Perez.

He was then snapped up by Red Bull but, as Verstappen explains, he was probably expecting to work with Red Bull’s previous World Champion.

“He was promised that he would work with Seb [Vettel], so he signed. But two weeks later Seb left for Ferrari. Then, in 2015, he had to work with Daniil [Kvyat],”

“We still laugh about it sometimes, he got promised to work with Seb, and now, through the years, he ended up with me!”

Owing to the success of this particular driver-engineer pairing, Verstappen added that he hoped to retain the same working relationship for the next few years.

“It’s been really good,” said Verstappen.

“It’s very important also, once it’s working, to stay together and when you have to work all the time with a different race engineer, I don’t think it’s good for you.

“I don’t want to change. Hopefully he doesn’t want to change as well.”

Verstappen rules out lengthy F1 career

On the same subject of F1 longevity, Verstappen – who is contracted to Red Bull until 2028 – was then asked if he envisaged staying with Red Bull for the rest of his F1 career.

“I could be,” responded Verstappen, before clarifying his unwillingness to have a prolonged career in the sport.

“Anyway, I’m not going to drive in F1 until I’m 40.

“So even if the contract runs out in 2028, I don’t see myself hanging around for a lot longer than that.

“It’s too much. There are too many races.”