Red Bull give first verdict on new Max Verstappen right-hand man

Red Bull team principal Laurent Mekies has praised Tom Hart for his debut as Max Verstappen's race engineer in a "complicated" United States Grand Prix.

In the past, Simon Rennie has deputised for Gianpiero Lambiase in Verstappen's ear, but it was Hart who took over radio duties from 'GP', as he is affectionately known, at the Circuit of the Americas, as he gears up to assume the role full-time.

Lambiase is leaving the Milton Keynes-based team for McLaren imminently to become chief racing officer under Andrea Stella, so Red Bull has devised a plan to bed his replacement in.

Hart has worked at Red Bull since 2012 and has been closely involved with Verstappen's car since 2020 as a performance engineer.

To smooth the handover, the pair will split the remaining races between them. Hart will also be on the radio in São Paulo and Las Vegas, while Lambiase returns for Mexico City, Qatar and Abu Dhabi.

Verstappen finished third in Austin, behind pole-sitter Kimi Antonelli and Charles Leclerc, but Mekies was pleased with how Hart's debut went in an otherwise disappointing afternoon for the four-time F1 drivers' champion.

"Look, I think he did an excellent job," Mekies said of Hart, when speaking to media, including RacingNews365, after the race.

"You see me smiling, because I certainly remember what it is to be on your first race as a race engineer, and he picked a fairly complicated race to do that.

"That was not his choice – but jokes aside, I think he really did an excellent job."

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Effusive praise for Hart

Expanding on his initial assessment, Mekies shared how well Hart handled the flow of information and communication between Verstappen and the rest of his performance team.

"First qualifying, first race, he has managed to channel very well the work of the engineering teams behind him to Max," he explained.

"Of course the race was a complicated race, and we are probably a bit frustrated with the P3, which is the good news, but I really think he did an excellent job, and he was very well supported by GP as well in the background.

"You cannot recreate a relationship in no time, but I have every confidence that we are going to see him ramping up and building that relationship with Max.

"As part of our plan, we will alternate Tom and GP to the end of the year. It's a combination of other considerations; it's what we do with FP1 drivers and so forth and so on. It’s just part of the plan."