Who is Max Verstappen’s race engineer, Gianpiero Lambiase, who has a distinctive voice over the radio that helped him to Formula One world victory? The driver’s only link with the outside world when they’re on track is their race engineer.
The race engineer, who is located in the pits, offers updates on which systems must be monitored or changed, as well as advice on traffic or calling the driver for a pitstop.When drivers leave their team, they generally take their race engineer with them. Verstappen, for example, was given a race engineer when he joined Red Bull in mid-2016.
Who is Lambiase, and how long has he worked in F1? What drivers has he been race engineer for in the past and how many years have you raced under his guidance?
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Max Verstappen’s F1 Race Engineer
In Formula One, there have been a number of famous driver/race engineer partnerships. After a re-jig, Brazilian Felipe Massa at Ferrari was handed Rob Smedley by the team.
The soothing tones of Middlesbrough’s finest aided in the calming of Massa, who came close to winning the 2008 world title. It was Smedley’s “Felipe baby, stay cool,” and notorious “Fernando is faster than you,” radio messages that cemented his reputation.
Of course, Peter Bonnington, Lewis Hamilton’s engineer at Mercedes, is well-known for his “Get in there, Lewis!” comments after another pole or win.
The Verstappen/Lamiaiase partnership was just getting started, as the Hamilton/Bonnington combination was racking up six world titles. Lambiase has been Red Bull’s engineer for every single one of Verstappen’s 118 races. Following Daniel Kvyat’s exit from Red Bull before the 2016 Spanish Grand Prix, Verstappen and Sainz were paired together. That race was won by Verstappen in his Formula 1 debut for Red Bull.
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At just 18 years, 227 days old, he became the youngest grand prix winner in history. Lambiase was also the first driver to win a grand prix. The firm’s straight forward approach has been praised by Verstappen.
As of the 2021 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, the pair have registered the following:
Titles – 1 – 2021
Wins – 20
Podiums – 60
Fastest laps – 16
Pole positions – 13
Points – 1495.5
Where Did Lambiase Work Before Red Bull?
Jordan Grand Prix, owned by Eddie Jordan, was where Lambiase and Bonnington began their F1 careers. Schumacher made his F1 debut with the team in 1991. In 2005 – the final year the team ran under that name in Formula 1 – Lambiase started at Jordan.
It was converted to Midland F1 for the year, and then Spyker for the following year. The team’s name changed to Force India in 2008, with Lambiase making his first strides into race engineering in 2010. In 2015, he moved to Red Bull, with Verstappen joining a year later. Racing Point became Force India in mid-2018, then changed its name to Aston Martin for the 2021 season.
Which Drivers Has Lambiase Worked With?
Since he first became a race engineer in 2010, Lambiase has worked with five drivers in F1.
2010 – Vitantonio Liuzzi – Force India
2011-2013 – Paul di Resta – Force India
2014 – Sergio Perez – Force India
2015-2016 – Danill Kvyat – Red Bull
2016 – present – Max Verstappen – Red Bull
Perez is a teammate of Max Verstappen at Red Bull, joining the Milton Keynes team ahead of the 2021 season. In the Bahrain Grand Prix that season, Perez and Lambiase achieved their best result with third.
Force India’s return to the top step of the podium was its first in nearly five years, and it was just the second for the squad in all forms since Jordan.
