Mekies expects Lambiase to become McLaren team principal

Laurent Mekies says his talks with GianPiero Lambiase suggest the engineer will become McLaren team principal in future, following his departure from Red Bull.

Lambiase (main image) is set to join McLaren no later than the start of 2028 in the role of chief racing officer, leaving his position as Red Bulls' head of racing, which included his more public role as Max Verstappen’s race engineer. Mekies told media in Miami that he believed Lambiase had been promised the team principal job, and while sitting alongside current McLaren team principal Andrea Stella he reiterated that position in Canada.

“Look, it’s certainly my understanding that GP is going to McLaren to become a team principal,” Mekies said. “That’s what I told you at the time. Obviously, we had a number of conversations before he was going to make the decision. Now don’t ask me if it’s going to happen, the timing of it is none of my business. I can just tell you the content of our conversations.”

In response, Stella did not deny such a potential outcome at some stage, but only described Lambiase’s arrival as strengthening McLaren’s wider leadership team.

“For us, it’s important to employ the best talents in Formula 1 because Zak [Brown] and I want to build the strongest team, not only in the present, but I think we have some good references as to strong teams in the past,” Stella said.

“I have been part of the Ferrari team in the early 2000s, and I know what level of seniority, expertise, leadership you need to be successful in the present and in the future. And employing GP is part of this vision, which is a vision of creating additive leadership that can integrate with the present leadership and create a stronger and stronger team at McLaren.

“So, I very strongly wanted GP to join McLaren. I am personally very stretched in my role as team principal, and I need a strong group of leaders working with me. So, I think the plan is very clear. Any other speculation leads us back to the silly season.”

Stella was referring back to an earlier response to speculation relating to not only his own future, but that of Oscar Piastri at McLaren, after the Australian was reported to be a target of Red Bull should Verstappen leave.

“I think we are already fully in this silly season," he said. "When we think about Oscar, we couldn’t be happier. I think we are seeing the best Oscar in the cockpit and also a happy Oscar, and the best version of himself outside the cockpit. Great dynamics and relationship with Lando, and I think the team is in its strongest shape since I’ve been team principal. So definitely it’s very clear, the direction for maximum stability at McLaren.

“When it comes to myself, I’m definitely fully committed to McLaren. One of the things that makes me more proud of my experience as a team principal is that we managed to fill the cabinet at MTC with trophies, and this meant that we needed to create another area of the cabinet, a new one. And for me the mission is very clear: we need to fill that new area of the cabinet for the years to come at McLaren.

“And GP? It’s very simple. At McLaren, we want to employ the best people in Formula 1, the best expertise, the best leaders. And the fact that GP decided to join McLaren, for me, just speaks to the credibility of our team. So, silly season, what’s important for us is stability and that the best talents in Formula 1 want to join McLaren.”