Gianpiero Lambiase: Max is like a little brother to me

Max Verstappen’s race engineer Gianpiero Lambiase has worked with the driver since he joined the team, and together they have achieved incredible success, although their relationship has not always been flawless…

Gianpiero Lambiase: “Before Max I had experience working with different riders, which helped us a lot initially. I guess if I was new to this I won’t say he would have eaten me alive, but he would have hardly shown me the due respect.

Max has learned some hard lessons in the two or three years leading up to 2021. Our goal was that if a race cannot be won, it is important to earn the maximum points available. We focused on consistency, finishing every race and not putting ourselves in a situation where there was a 50% chance that he would have an accident with another driver.

Disagreements are inevitable in any relationship. First of all you have to accept it. You must trust each other that this is for the common good and not for malicious intent. This is the basis of a relationship.

As an engineer, I have to remember that Max is driving, not me. Although we all work under high pressure, the pressure on Max is much greater. As the more mature person, I have to be mature and step back and let him speak when he needs to. At the same time, he must understand why certain decisions are made.

If I was the one who agreed to everything, I would have left a long time ago. But we are as honest as possible with each other and can be tough and candid when necessary.

I wouldn’t want to repeat 2021. On and off the track, the rivalry was incredibly intense, sometimes even beyond the boundaries of the sport. Now Max doesn’t have such pressure, but nothing has changed in our approach. As before, we look at each race individually, without looking too far into the future.

Max is like a little brother to me. We can talk about anything and anyone at any time. I don’t think I would be interested in working with another driver.”