Max Verstappen will be without his race engineer Gianpiero Lambiase during the Austrian Grand Prix. Instead, Daniel Ricciardo’s former race engineer, Simon Rennie, will be stepping in to assist the reigning world champion in Austria.
Max Verstappen and Gianpiero Lambiase have built a strong relationship over the last decade. The British engineer has been Verstappen’s race engineer ever since the Dutchman moved to Red Bull in 2016. He is often praised for his clear communication and is often considered one of the best engineers on the grid.
Part of Verstappen’s success in F1 can be credited to Lambiase. But the 27-year-old will be missing the trusted voice in Austria. GP, as he is called by Verstappen, is set to miss the Austrian GP due to personal reasons. In his absence, Simon Rennie will be Verstappen’s race engineer. Lambiase is expected to be back for the British GP, which takes place the weekend after Austria.
Rennie is a familiar face within the Red Bull setup, having been there since 2013. The Briton came over from Lotus to work as Mark Webber’s race engineer in the Aussie’s final year in F1. In 2014, Rennie became Daniel Ricciardo’s race engineer on the Austrian team.
Rennie stayed as Ricciardo’s race engineer throughout the Aussie driver’s time at Red Bull, before moving to a factory-based role in 2019. This is also rumored to have played a part in Ricciardo deciding to leave Red Bull that year.
He returned to the track as Alex Albon’s race engineer in 2020, but only for a short stint. When Sergio Perez arrived in 2021, Hugh Bird stepped into the role, and Rennie returned back to his factory role. He is currently the Group Leader of Simulation Engineering on the team.
Max Verstappen would welcome Sebastian Vettel at Red Bull
Sebastian Vettel has recently confirmed having talks with Helmut Marko to be his successor at Red Bull in the future. Max Verstappen has now claimed that there will always be a place for Vettel on the Austrian team.
Speaking to the media ahead of the Austrian GP, Verstappen was asked to share his thoughts on recent speculation surrounding Vettel’s return to Red Bull.
“I mean, it’s more than normal that someone that has achieved so much with Red Bull, has been brought up by Red Bull, that, in a sense there’s always a spot available, right?” said Verstappen. [via F1.com]
“I think also Seb always kept a really good relationship with Helmut anyway, even when he left. I’m sure that there’s always a space for Seb, in any kind of form,” he added.
Marko’s primary role at Red Bull is leading the junior program. He is also a senior advisor, and his opinion is highly respected within the team. The Austrian is 82 years old now and has admitted that he cannot do the role forever.
Vettel also admitted that he is “in contact regarding the topic” with Marko, without the talks being too serious at the moment.
