F1 News
Lambiase on Verstappen: 'Engineer is then subordinate to driver'
- Kimberley Hoefnagel
Gianpiero Lambiase argues that it is important for a race engineer to recognise that he or she is subordinate to the driver in some situations. Max Verstappen's race engineer stresses that although he is a duo with the Dutchman, this does not mean he can always say everything.
It is a well-known fact that Lambiase has an extremely good relationship with Verstappen, and that he can therefore say a lot to the Dutchman. This often makes for interesting moments over the team radio. Although Lambiase has to be strict in some cases, he acknowledges that this is not always the right way. "It's something you need to be innately aware of when you are communicating with a driver that's traveling at 300kph+ in a very high-pressure environment like that," he told Motorsport.com.
"Whilst we are a duo, I think you need to realise that the engineer needs to be subservient to the driver at that point. It's pointless rising to the occasion or anything like that because you'll just end up in a spiral downwards very, very quickly," Lambiase said.
Close relationship Verstappen and Lambiase
Lambiase has been working alongside Verstappen as his race engineer since his debut at Red Bull Racing in 2016. The two have now been together for almost nine years and have developed an excellent relationship over the years. In the past, Verstappen has indicated he would retire if he had to continue without the Briton, although Lambiase waved those statements away at the time.
This article was written in collaboration with Norberto Mujica.
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