Guenther Steiner explains why McLaren’s Gianpiero Lambiase signing is a major long-term statement

Former Haas Formula 1 team principal Guenther Steiner believes that McLaren's signing of Max Verstappen's race engineer Gianpiero Lambiase proves the Woking outfit is building for the long term.

It was recently announced that Lambiase will join McLaren as chief racing officer in 2028 at the latest, reporting directly to team principal Andrea Stella. His exit comes after a successful, multi-championship-winning tenure as Verstappen's race engineer.

Speaking about the situation during an appearance on the Drive to Wynn podcast, Steiner suggested that Red Bull would likely opt to release Lambiase sooner rather than later, or place him on gardening leave. 

"I think he will be out of Red Bull pretty soon, and maybe can even start earlier at McLaren but they are not keeping him around, and obviously it's a motivation factor as well," Steiner said.

"If you know you're going somewhere else, it's always difficult. Obviously, you want to do a good job, but is your heart 100%? Maybe only 99%. Sometimes that's not good enough in Formula 1, especially in the position they are now, so they will find the best way forward for them and then decide what they do with GP."

McLaren's recent signings have also included former Red Bull head of race strategy Will Courtenay as the sporting director. Steiner praised the Zak Brown-led team's approach, claiming that it is building a stable foundation.

Gianpiero Lambiase, Red Bull Racing

Photo by: Kym Illman / Getty Images

"McLaren is thinking long-term and it's very smart because Will Courtenay is there from Red Bull as well, very good guy and they have got a very strong team of individuals.

"They are experienced people they are getting, but they are still young enough to have the drive to do it. These are not people which look for retirement, no they still want to go racing and win so very, very smart.

"But again, what I said before, McLaren was winning the last two years and where you want to work if you're successful is the winning team, and that is how you attract this big talent. That is where they want to be in the future.

"You see your own team is not the dominating team anymore, where do I want to go? To the best team given the opportunity. They didn't go to a small team, they went to the team that was best the last two years."