A five-week hiatus may have hit the Formula 1 world, but the transfer news never stops, as it was officially announced that Gianpiero Lambiase will leave Red Bull and join McLaren in 2028. Along with that, Formula 2 also announced new races to be added to the 2026 calendar.
Thursday morning saw rumours break that Gianpiero Lambiase would be leaving Red Bull Racing after the 2027 season, with GPblog understanding that a senior role at McLaren would be offered to the engineer.
Just a few hours later, a brief, three-paragrpah statement was released by the Austrian team, stating that Max Verstappen’s engineer would leave the team after the 2027 season.
It marks yet another key figure to depart the Red Bull Racing team, seeing its dominance turn into disarray.
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Official: McLaren to sign Lambiase for the 2028 season from Red Bull
Just minutes after Red Bull’s official statement announcing Lambiase’s departure, McLaren said that the British-Italian engineer would be joining them in 2028.
The move will see Lambiase take on the Chief Racing Officer role, reporting into Team Principal, Andrea Stella, quietening down rumours that pointed at the Italian’s exit from the team.
The move has also been expected and well-received by Verstappen, with the four-time world champion kept continuously informed about all the developments.
Max Verstappen and Gianpiero Lambiase – Photo: Red Bull Content Pool
More official confirmations were made today, as Formula 2 has announced that it will add race weekends at the Miami and Canadian Grands Prix to its calendar for the 2026 season.
After the Bahrain and Saudi Arabian Grands Prix were cancelled due to the conflict in the Middle East, GPblog understood that Miami and Montreal were lined up in March as venues to fill in the gaps in the schedule, stopping a potential three-month gap in the F2 season.
Now, the Formula 2 Championship will travel to Miami from May 1 to 3 for the second round of the 2026 season, followed by Montreal from May 22 to 24 for round three. After that, the championship reverts to its original calendar, returning to Europe for the Monaco Grand Prix weekend from June 4 to 7.
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