27/06/2025 19:13
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."
