Red Bull Racing will implement a significant change on Max Verstappen’s pit wall, with Tom Hart stepping in as race engineer for three of the remaining 2026 Formula 1 Grands Prix. This transition marks the beginning of a handover process ahead of Gianpiero Lambiase’s confirmed departure to McLaren.
Hart, who has served as Verstappen’s performance engineer, will assume race engineering duties for the upcoming United States Grand Prix in Austin, followed by the Brazilian Grand Prix in São Paulo, and the Las Vegas Grand Prix.
Lambiase, Verstappen’s race engineer since 2016, is scheduled to join McLaren as Chief Racing Officer no later than 2028. McLaren CEO Zak Brown has expressed optimism regarding an earlier arrival, potentially in 2027.
The partnership between Verstappen and Lambiase has been one of Formula 1’s most successful, yielding four Drivers’ Championships and over 70 Grand Prix victories. Lambiase was promoted to Head of Racing at Red Bull in 2025, overseeing various departments.
During the three races where Hart will be on the radio, Lambiase will remain on-site. He will continue to fulfill his broader responsibilities as Red Bull’s Head of Racing.
Lambiase will then resume his direct race engineering duties for Verstappen at the final two rounds of the 2026 season: the Qatar Grand Prix and the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.
This structured handover is designed to prepare Hart for the permanent race engineer role, which he is expected to assume full-time for the 2027 campaign. Hart joined Red Bull in 2012 and has progressed through various engineering roles.
He previously conducted practice trial sessions with Verstappen at the Italian Grand Prix in Monza. Hart opted to remain with Red Bull despite interest from Williams for a prominent technical position.
The transition follows recent technical challenges for the Red Bull duo. Verstappen and Lambiase experienced significant radio communication issues during the Singapore Grand Prix.
Verstappen confirmed that radio problems have affected him throughout the 2026 season, with the Singapore event being particularly problematic. They resorted to coded messages to manage race strategy.
Maybe he was happy that it was not working! I couldn’t really say anything. He did try at one point to ask me a few things in code and I think he understood well what I meant or did not do. I’ve been having difficulty with my radio already the whole season and this weekend has been particularly bad.
Red Bull is reportedly limiting Lambiase’s access to sensitive engineering meetings as his departure approaches. This measure aims to prevent the transfer of critical information to McLaren.
The United States Grand Prix, where Hart will first take over, is scheduled for October 23-25. Verstappen enters this period having secured consecutive victories in Malaysia and Singapore.
