Max Verstappen’s long-serving race engineer, Gianpiero Lambiase, is to leave Red Bull and make a shock switch to McLaren.

Lambiase’s future had been the subject of speculation over the winter, as rival teams targeted the British-Italian engineer who had been pondering his long-term options.

Aston Martin had targeted him as a potential team principal, while there were rumours that Williams was also interested.

However, behind the scenes McLaren also entered the frame and became the preferred option as it made a bold bid to secure him in a senior management position.

As first reported in Dutch media, including De Telegraaf, and confirmed by sources with good knowledge of the situation, a deal is now in place for Lambiase to join McLaren when his current contract with Red Bull ends next year.

No official announcement has been made, and there has been no comment from either McLaren nor Red Bull about the situation, but sources have indicated the plan will be for him to work alongside and help support current team principal Andrea Stella.

It is understood that Lambiase’s chief focus will be in taking on some of the in-weekend racing responsibilities that Stella currently has under his umbrella.

The growing complexity of F1 operations means that the role of team principal can now no longer cover everything, and McLaren has felt that bringing in someone with Lambiase's experience and talent will be a big help.

The move will take place at the start of 2028 unless an agreement is reached between McLaren and Red Bull for it to happen earlier.

Lambiase’s planned move away from Red Bull comes at a pivotal time for both the team and Verstappen – who is pondering his own future.

He and Verstappen have built up a super close bond together that has carried them to four world championships.

After last year’s title defeat in Abu Dhabi, Verstappen praised Lambiase following some emotional scenes on the pit wall.

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.”

Lambiase moving on also comes against the backdrop of Verstappen having several close allies in recent years, including Red Bull motorsport advisor Helmut Marko , chief mechanic Matt Caller, sporting director Jonathan Wheatley and and Ole Schack, who was a long-serving front end mechanic for Verstappen.