Crucial Max Verstappen ally returns for Hungarian GP

Max Verstappen's race engineer Gianpiero Lambiase will be back on the Red Bull pit wall at the Hungarian Grand Prix, as confirmed to RacingNews365 by the Milton Keynes-based squad.

The British-Italian engineer has been absent from the team twice in recent rounds due to private personal circumstances, missing the Austrian and Belgian grands prix, respectively.

Lambiase, who is known as GP as a contraction of his first name, has been Verstappen's race engineer since 2016, when the Dutchman was promoted to the six-time constructors' champions from Toro Rosso with Daniil Kyvat going in the other direction.

In his absence, the experienced Simon Rennie has deputised for him. The Briton was previously Daniel Ricciardo and Alex Albon's engineer for Red Bull.

Verstappen heads into the round at the Hungaroring, the final weekend before the mandated summer shutdown, looking to finish off the first part of the season strong.

The four-time F1 drivers' champion has won at the venue twice before, in 2022 and 2023, and finished second on two further occasions, in 2019 and 2020.

However, last term, it was not a happy hunting ground for the 27-year-old, who was widely criticised for partaking in late-night sim racing activities before clashing with Lambiase over team radio and with Lewis Hamilton on track in an ill-tempered drive to fifth place.