Max Verstappen is to be without regular F1 race engineer Gianpiero Lambiase once again, during the Belgian Grand Prix weekend. Lambiase, who had never previously missed a race since Verstappen joined the team in 2016, skipped the recent Austrian GP due to personal circumstances, with Daniel Ricciardo's former engineer Simon Rennie taking his place. Lambiase returned for the British Grand Prix where Verstappen finished fifth, but for the Sprint weekend at Spa, RacingNews365 can confirm Lambiase is again due to be absent, again for personal reasons, and Rennie will deputise for a second time. Rennie first worked with Mark Webber at Red Bull in 2014, before pairing up with Ricciardo in 2014 for his five-year stay with the team. The Briton then moved into a factory-based role for 2019, before returning to engineer Alex Albon in 2020. Rennie was the engineer subject to Kimi Raikkonen's iconic "leave me alone" message when he was at Lotus during the 2012 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.
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