MONTREAL, May 22 (Reuters) – Red Bull team boss Laurent Mekies stood by his opinion that Max Verstappen’s race engineer Gianpiero Lambiase was joining McLaren to become principal, despite incumbent Andrea Stella insisting he was staying.
Mekies first made the assertion at the Miami Grand Prix this month, with McLaren Chief Executive Zak Brown replying that the Frenchman clearly “knows something I don’t”.
“Look, it’s certainly my understanding that GP (Lambiase) is going to McLaren to become a team principal,” Mekies told an FIA news conference at the Canadian Grand Prix, with Stella also present, when asked about it again on Friday.
“That’s what I told you at the time (in Miami).
“Obviously we had a number of conversations before he was going to make that decision. Now, don’t ask me if it’s going to happen. The timing of it is none of my business. I can just tell you the content of our conversations.”
McLaren announced Lambiase’s move in April with his arrival set vaguely at a date no later than 2028, when his existing contract ends.
They also said he would be joining as Chief Racing Officer, in a supporting role to Stella.
Stella, whose team have won two consecutive constructors’ titles and Lando Norris’s drivers’ crown last year, has been linked in media speculation to Ferrari while there has been talk of their Australian driver Oscar Piastri moving to Red Bull.
Some have also questioned whether four-times world champion Verstappen might follow Lambiase to McLaren, although Mekies said he was not worried about that happening.
Stella shrugged off the various suggestions on Friday, the Italian saying he was fully committed to McLaren, Piastri was happy and it seemed the ‘Silly Season’ had already arrived.
“For us, it’s important to employ the best talents in Formula One because Zak and I want to build the strongest team,” he added.
“I have been part of the Ferrari team in the early 2000s, and I know what level of seniority, expertise, leadership you need to be successful in the present and in the future.
“And employing GP is part of this vision … of creating additive leadership that can integrate with the present leadership and create a stronger and stronger team at McLaren.
“I very strongly wanted GP to join McLaren. I am personally very stretched in my role as team principal, and I need a strong group of leaders working with me. So, I think the plan is very clear. Any other speculation leads us back to the silly season.”
(Reporting by Alan Baldwin; Editing by Ken Ferris)
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