Which role could Gianpiero Lambiase assume at McLaren?

McLaren and Red Bull were drawn back into the spotlight over the future of four-time F1 champion Max Verstappen's race engineer Gianpiero Lambiase after comments made in Miami resurfaced in Montreal.

In Canada, both Laurent Mekies and Andrea Stella addressed the situation directly, offering two very different perspectives but ultimately closing the door on speculation about a looming leadership change at McLaren.

Mekies reiterated that his understanding — based on private discussions with Lambiase before the engineer made his decision — was that Lambiase was joining McLaren with the intention of becoming a team principal in the future.

“Look, it’s certainly my understanding that GP is going to McLaren to become a Team Principal. 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.”

His remarks reignited questions about whether McLaren might be preparing a succession plan — and whether Stella could eventually move into a different executive role.

Stella, however, responded with clarity and detail, firmly rejecting the idea that Lambiase had been hired as a future replacement. Instead, he framed the move as part of a deliberate strategy to strengthen McLaren’s leadership structure by adding senior expertise rather than reshuffling existing roles.

“What I said before is that McLaren, for us, it’s important to employ the best talents in Formula 1 because Zak 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.”

Drawing on his experience at Ferrari during the early 2000s, Stella explained the level of depth and seniority required to build a consistently successful organisation.

“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.”

The Italian described Lambiase’s arrival as part of a vision of “additive leadership,” designed to integrate with and reinforce the existing structure.

“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.”

Stella also made clear that he personally pushed for Lambiase to join. “So, I very strongly wanted GP to join McLaren.”

He acknowledged the scale of his own responsibilities — not as a sign of impending change, but as a reason to expand the leadership group. “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.”