Max Verstappen has assessed his first day working with Daniel Ricciardo's former F1 engineer after a Red Bull change. Verstappen's regular engineer Gianpiero Lambiase is missing the Austrian Grand Prix, the first race he has since Verstappen was promoted ahead of the 2016 Spanish GP. Lambiase is missing due to personal reasons, with his replacement being Red Bull veteran Simon Rennie. Rennie worked with Ricciardo as race engineer during his five-year spell with the team between 2014-2018, and also worked with Alex Albon as engineer. Rennie was also the recipient of Kimi Raikkonen's famous "Leave me alone, I know what to do" message at the 2012 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix when he worked for Lotus. Assessing the impact of Rennie, Verstappen was full of praise. "It is how it is now," Verstappen explained of Lambiase's absence. "It has been really good with Simon, of course, I've known him for a long time on the other side of the garage, and working with him in the simulator. "He has a lot of experience, and it was actually very good. He was straight on it, and it was nice. "Overall, [the day] was quite straightforward and we didn't have any big issues, but just lacked a bit of pace. "There was a bit too much understeer in the car in the short and long runs, so that is something we have to try and get rid of."
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