Who is Max Verstappen's new race engineer at the Austrian GP?

Max Verstappen will have a new voice in his ears at the Austrian Grand Prix as his usual race engineer Gianpiero Lambiase will miss the event for personal reasons. Lambiase has been Verstappen's engineer since the 2016 Spanish Grand Prix where he scored a sensational race victory on his Red Bull debut. Verstappen has endured 196 F1 race events with Lambiase by his side, guiding him through each of the practice, qualifying and race sessions. However, with Lambiase absent from Spielberg, Red Bull has called up Simon Rennie to fill his shoes. Rennie began his F1 experience with the Renault team in 2004, working in various engineering positions before being promoted to the race engineer of Fernando Alonso in 2009. In the years that followed, he worked with various drivers at the Enstone team including Robert Kubica, Nick Heidfeld and Kimi Raikkonen. The 2013 campaign saw the Briton make the switch to Red Bull where he teamed up with Mark Webber for the Australian's final season in the sport. After Webber's retirement, Rennie joined forces with Daniel Ricciardo who was called up to replace his compatriot. The pair won several races together, but when Ricciardo left Red Bull at the end of 2018, Rennie took on a factory-based role. His most recent experience as a race engineer came in 2020 when he was assigned as Alex Albon's right-hand man during the Covid-19-stricken campaign. However at the end of the year, he returned to a Milton Keynes-based position, working as the group leader of simulation engineering. Rennie has now been called back trackside to guide Verstappen through the race weekend as the Dutchman seeks a record-extending fifth Austrian GP win.