Ahead of this weekend’s eagerly anticipated Miami Grand Prix, Red Bull Racing team principal Laurent Mekies has moved to calm speculation that the upcoming departure of long-time race engineer Gianpiero Lambiase will impact star driver Max Verstappen’s decision on his future in Formula 1.
Lambiase has been a core part of Verstappen’s racing team ever since the Dutch driver made his debut with Red Bull at the 2016 Spanish Grand Prix, but he is set to leave the outfit to take up the role of chief racing officer at rivals McLaren no later than 2028. When asked if this departure would play any role in Verstappen’s ongoing deliberation about whether to remain in F1 – a conversation amplified by the three-time champion’s public dissatisfaction with this season’s new power unit regulations – Mekies rejected the connection entirely.
“Obviously, we speak with Max every day. And Max knows motorsport upside down,” Mekies told reporters. “He’s living and breathing this team. He knows most of these guys. He understands very well the dynamics that can happen. The team has been extremely successful and you can’t promote everyone. And some people make some decisions.”
Verstappen’s frustration centers on the 2025 hybrid power unit regulations, which split power output almost evenly between the internal combustion engine and electrical components, a change that has altered the core driving experience for pilots. Drivers have complained that the new rules force them to focus on artificial energy management during races and qualifying rather than pushing flat-out, and created dangerous gaps in closing speeds between cars harvesting and deploying electrical energy.
To address these immediate concerns, F1 has introduced targeted rule changes specifically for this weekend’s Miami event. Mekies noted that while these adjustments are not a full fix for the sport’s power unit issues, they mark a positive step forward. “It’s going in the right directions. We don’t think it’s changing any pecking order. Nobody pretends it’s going to fix everything, but it’s a good step, and we will certainly support more steps in the future so that the drivers can be flat-out out there,” he said.
Mekies also echoed the view of McLaren team principal Andrea Stella that long-term hardware adjustments to the power unit are required to fully resolve the problems. Stella has called for a shift in the power split to give a larger share to the internal combustion engine, and insider sources confirm F1 governing body officials are already in active talks to adjust the regulations for the 2026 season. The leading proposal on the table would increase the internal combustion engine’s fuel flow rate to create a 60:40 split in favor of the combustion engine, a change that would preserve the existing electrical boost and overtaking systems that remain a key part of F1’s modern identity.
Stella explained: “There should be a consideration for some hardware changes, more for the longer term, such that we can place the operating point of the power unit somewhere where less compromises are required from a chassis point of view or from a driving point of view. We think this is possible, and we think that all stakeholders should approach this conversation with the willingness to contribute.”
Beyond power unit rule talks, the weekend in Miami arrives at a pivotal point for Red Bull, who have endured a rocky start to the 2025 campaign. After missing out on the 2024 drivers’ title to McLaren’s Lando Norris by just two points, Verstappen sits ninth in the championship after three races, with only a single sixth-place finish to his name so far this year.
Following a forced break in the calendar after the cancellation of the Bahrain and Saudi Arabian Grands Prix, Red Bull will roll out a major aerodynamic and mechanical car upgrade for Miami, which Verstappen tested at Silverstone last week. Mekies said the upgrade will resolve a significant portion of the team’s early-season performance issues, though he stopped short of claiming it has fixed all their problems. “One thing is sure, we haven’t solved everything,” he said. “But there is no doubt that progress has been made into giving something more consistent to our drivers. How does that make you fit in the classifications? It’s impossible to know. But in terms of us alone on the track, in terms of giving a more consistent product to our drivers, I’m confident we have made some progress. Do we know if we cracked everything? No, we know we didn’t crack everything yet.”
Mekies also shed light on the scale of Red Bull’s performance gap to front-running team Mercedes, confirming that around one-third of the team’s one-second per lap deficit comes from their new in-house power unit, with the remaining gap rooted in chassis performance. “Unfortunately, the first few races confirmed that we have a lot of work to do,” he said. “It’s 360. But certainly on the PU side as well, we can see that competition has a clear advantage. So we see them clearly ahead of us. It doesn’t remove anything to the amazing job that the guys have done. But it’s just confirmed that we have been evaluating ever since we put the car on the ground in Barcelona and in Bahrain. So fantastic starting point, unbelievable starting point. But it’s a competitive business. We are quite a few 10ths of a (second per) lap behind them in terms of performance. Even more so in terms of chassis performance, to be clear. And so we know we have a lot of work to do ahead of us.”
McLaren, by contrast, have enjoyed a strong start to the 2025 season as defending champions, with Oscar Piastri taking second place at the most recent round in Japan. Stella confirmed that the Woking-based squad is also rolling out its own major aerodynamic upgrade package for the North American rounds, including Miami, but downplayed suggestions this would shake up the existing competitive order. “I would like to stress that this is what I would expect of most of our competitors so not necessarily is going to be a shift in the pecking order,” he said. “It will be effectively just a check who has been able to add more performance within the same timeframe, and we also have some performance to recover if we look at Mercedes and to some extent Ferrari as well.”
The Miami Grand Prix weekend runs from 1 to 3 May, with the main race getting underway at 21:00 BST on Sunday. UK fans can follow live commentary on BBC Radio 5 Live and BBC Radio 5 Sports Extra, with live text updates available via the BBC Sport website and app.