Could Verstappen be impacted by Red Bull reshuffle?

Ted Kravitz has brought to light speculation that Max Verstappen's race engineer, Gianpiero Lambiase, could be set to replace Red Bull's outgoing sporting director Jonathan Wheatley.

Having joined the Milton Keynes squad in 2006, it was announced just before the summer break that Wheatley will take over as team principal of Audi's F1 project next year after a period of gardening leave.

Red Bull itself broke the news, with Christian Horner using the opportunity to affirm the "strength and depth" in the team, whilst promising to elevate from "within" - something he confirmed would be announced in the "coming weeks."

Kravitz believes that one person in contention is Lambiase, although, the 50-year-old argued that the man in Verstappen's ear may not want to leave the relationship he shares with the Dutchman behind.

“Who are they going to get to replace him is the question,” the pit lane reporter said on the Sky Sports F1 Podcast.

“Because being such a valuable guy in terms of the rules and keeping a razor-sharp race team, how are they going to divide up?

“I can think of quite a few guys within Red Bull who were mechanics and have risen through to be that sort of senior level mechanic role, which Wheatley, of course, used to be a chief mechanic at Benetton and Renault, that’s how he got into his position.

“I can imagine those guys moving up, and they know the rules as well.

“Some people have speculated that Gianpiero Lambiase might go into that sporting director role. I don’t think he wants to leave the cut and thrust and the fun of race engineering…”

“It’s fun winning races and winning championships. So I’m not sure whether GP [Lambiase] would want to leave that."

Any such move would effect Verstappen, who has been partnered with Lambiase since stepping up to the team in 2016.

After winning on debut at the 2016 Spanish Grand Prix, the two have gone on to enjoy a further 60 grand prix victories and three drivers' titles together.

Red Bull performance engineer Tom Hart took the Lambiase's headset for a free practice earlier in the year, so could be a potential replacement.

Given the scope of Wheatley's role, which encompasses extensive knowledge of the F1 rulebook and management of the race team, it was also suggested by Kravitz that Red Bull would be best-served splitting the position. 

“Red Bull are going to promote from within, and there’s probably going to be this thing where they actually get two people," he added, explaining his theory.

“They’ll probably be one of the chief mechanics, who will run the race team, pit stops and all of that. And they’ll find somebody who knows the rules very well, who they’ll put into the sporting manager or sporting director role.”