Max Verstappen’s long-time race engineer and friend Gianpiero Lambiase is being targeted by Aston Martin for a senior role, The Race can reveal.

Lambiase’s future at Red Bull had been the source of speculation after the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, following an emotional exchange on the team radio with Verstappen post-race.

With Verstappen’s victory not quite enough to secure him the title, Lambiase said: “You can be proud of that mate, hold your head up high.”

Verstappen delivered a cryptic response which stated: "We showed them one final time who's boss.”

Those comments, and Lambiase’s emotion as he was overwhelmed on the pit wall, fuelled talk that the Italian – widely known in the pitlane as 'GP' – had completed his final race as Verstappen’s engineer after a relationship that stretched back to 2016.

While anticipated that he would not be continuing in an unchanged engineering role with Verstappen for 2026, the expectation was that he would step into a different position within Red Bull.

However, high-level sources have revealed to The Race that another possibility has opened up in recent weeks of him actually switching teams.

According to insiders, talks have taken place between Lambiase and Aston Martin about a senior position at the Silverstone-based squad.

A Newey reunion?

While nothing has been agreed, it is understood that Aston Martin has discussed with Lambiase the possibility of a management position there – potentially at team principal or CEO level – as part of a revamped structure.

Back in November, it was announced that Aston Martin’s design legend Adrian Newey was becoming team principal from the start of 2026, following the decision by Andy Cowell to step back from the position.

However, it was not clear how Newey would manage to take on extra responsibilities without this having a negative impact on his primary focus of pushing forward with car design.

Speaking to Sky at the Qatar Grand Prix about his new position, Newey said he was determined not to be distracted from doing all he could to design the best car.

"That's really what I want to and need to do," he said. "That's what gets me out of bed in the morning. So I'm determined not to dilute that."

It was not quite clear how Newey could juggle this as well as do the team principal role, but getting someone senior in alongside him to help run things would be an obvious solution.

Newey and Lambiase, who is hugely respected in the paddock, already have a good working relationship, having combined forces so successfully at Red Bull in the past.

If Aston can win Lambiase’s signature, then one possibility could be for Newey to fulfil the team principal role on an interim basis until the Italian is able to join and they reshuffle roles.

Red Bull would almost certainly fight hard to keep hold of Lambiase because of the obvious strengths he brings to the organisation. 

Verstappen praise

After the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, Verstappen had nothing but praise for Lambiase for all the efforts he had made during a year impacted by significant personal challenges that forced him to miss races in Austria and Belgium.

Verstappen said: “It’s been an emotional year. Forget about the results this year.

“I also don’t want to go too much into detail, but it’s been tough. But I’m very happy to be able to work with someone that passionate.”

A potential departure from Red Bull for Lambiase would mean Verstappen losing another member of his crew over this winter.

As well as Red Bull motorsport advisor Helmut Marko heading for retirement after the 2025 campaign, Verstappen has already seen some key figures also announce they are leaving.

Chief mechanic Matt Caller is heading to join Red Bull’s former sporting director Jonathan Wheatley at Audi in part of an overhauled structure at the German car manufacturer. 

Leaving too are performance engineer Tom Hart, who has been linked to Williams, control engineer Michael Manning and engine engineer David Mart.

If Lambiase does leave Red Bull, or even switch to a different role inside the organisation, then the logical option to engineer Verstappen in 2026 would be Daniel Ricciardo's former Red Bull race engineer Simon Rennie, who stood in at the Red Bull Ring and Spa-Francorchamps last season for Lambiase.