Red Bull team principal Laurent Mekies says the team won't hesitate to raid the paddock for talent after losing Max Verstappen's long-time race engineer Gianpiero Lambiase to McLaren. Lambiase, whose deal runs through 2027, will join Woking as Chief Racing Officer no later than 2028, the latest senior departure in a brutal stretch that's already cost Milton Keynes Adrian Newey to Aston Martin, Jonathan Wheatley to Audi, and Rob Marshall and Will Courtenay to McLaren.
Mekies isn't pretending it doesn't sting, but framed retention and recruitment as the team's top priority, pointing to Ben Waterhouse's expanded power unit role and Andrea Landi's imminent arrival from Racing Bulls as proof the structure is being rebuilt on the fly.
Red Bull sit a distant fourth after four rounds. With Miami next and Verstappen's title defense already wobbling, Mekies has zero margin to get the next hire wrong.
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