“They’re like an old married couple”: How Lambiase guided Verstappen to 40th win

Max Verstappen’s 40th Formula 1 victory was not his hardest-fought success. Arguably it was the opposite.

Despite that, there were moments of tension between the driver and his race engineer Giampiero ‘GP’ Lambiase, which demonstrated the intensity of their pursuit of a perfectly-executed race.

Facing little competition from outside their half of the Red Bull garage, the pair ensure their operation remains razor-sharp, extracting the maximum pace at the minimum risk. Both have opportunities and threats on their radars, but occasionally differed over which to prioritise.

Inevitably those are the moments which get most attention. Team principal Christian Horner described the pair as sounding “like an old married couple” at times. But the rest of the time the back-and-forth between the duo is a textbook reference for how the driver-engineer operation should work.

Having started from pole position Verstappen easily dealt with Carlos Sainz Jnr and kept his lead. From then on, with Verstappen on the medium tyre compound and his rivals on softs, it was a matter of keeping the opposition at arm’s length.

Within little time Lambiase was telling Verstappen he didn’t need to lean on his tyres in the high-speed corners anymore and could start to manage them:

Lap: 1/66 VER: 1’23.935
Lambiase	Car behind Sainz. Gap 0.8.
Lap: 3/66 VER: 1’20.499
Lambiase	Settle in, Max.
Lap: 4/66 VER: 1’20.346
Lambiase	If anything the laps previous Max, Sainz was pushing turn three more than you. You’ve got margin to back out turn nine now. Likewise turn 14 this lap. Gap behind 1.8.

The Circuit de Catalunya only has two straights of significant length where race engineers can convey lengthy messages to their drivers without interrupting them in the middle of a corner, when maximum concentration is needed. So when Lambiase had to describe an engine settings change to Verstappen, he made sure he heard it:

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Lap: 9/66 VER: 1’20.282
Verstappen	Engine has a bit of weird engine braking, low speed. It’s not consistent.
Lambiase	Engine 13…
Verstappen	Turn five…
Lambiase	(Talking over him) Engine one-three position five, one-three position five.
Lap: 10/66 VER: 1’20.334
Lambiase	Okay. That last change on the PU, Max, should help those comments. Gap 4.6.

The pair began planning adjustments to Verstappen’s car at his first pit stop when he would change to a harder set of tyres and therefore need a steeper front wing angle to generate more downforce and grip.

Lap: 12/66 VER: 1’20.442
Lambiase	Max, let us know if you’d like a bit more front, reduce diff at high speed.
Verstappen	Er, yeah.
Lap: 15/66 VER: 1’20.282
Verstappen	Yeah next stint I need three clicks more wing.
Lambiase	Understood, Max.
Lap: 17/66 VER: 1’20.344
Verstappen	I’m struggling too much with the left-front compared to practice.
Lambiase	Understood, Max. No immediate rush to be pushing at the moment.

Although team mate Sergio Perez had started back in 11th and was picking his way past most of the slower cars between them, Red Bull kept an eye on his performance relative to Verstappen’s:

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Lap: 22/66 VER: 1’19.869
Lambiase	Currently only deficits to Checo turn nine and 14.
Lap: 23/66 VER: 1’20.098
Lambiase	Gap 10 seconds. Can I have a tyre update please, Max.
Verstappen	Quite inconsistent medium. Initially it was a lot the left-front that was struggling, now it’s more even.
Lambiase	Understood.

Lambiase called Verstappen in for his first pit stop, onto hard tyres. Given how long he’d been able to take his first set of tyres, they were already thinking about switching to a softer set for the final stint:

Lap: 26/66 VER: 1’23.843
Lambiase	Okay, Max, all you’ve got.
Lambiase	Box and pit confirm Max.
Lap: 27/66 VER: 1’38.427
Lambiase	Okay so introduce the tyre nicely, Max. We’ve given you more front wing balance so let us know about the high speed diff, if it’s a bit too on the nose.
Verstappen	I’ll put it back up.
Lap: 28/66 VER: 1’18.707
Lambiase	So display five, position 10.
Lambiase	Okay, so car behind is Hamilton, he pitted onto a new medium. Gap 10.8. Exactly the same approach please Max for this stint. Should open up options for our final stint.
Lap: 29/66 VER: 1’18.860
Lambiase	So fuel-corrected, Max, that’s one second faster and around three-tenths faster than the beginning of the race start.

The pair had a minor difference over how to optimise the car’s set-up later in the stint:

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Lap: 42/66 VER: 1’19.092
Lambiase	Okay Max, thoughts on for this tyre?
Verstappen	Well, not amazing. Let’s see a few more laps. I struggle a lot with like under braking the front is overheating.
Lambiase	Okay, so bias offset available if you need it. Also, think about torque.
Lap: 45/66 VER: 1’19.104
Lambiase	Max, just some signs of dragging rears very late braking. Just wondering whether we can…
Verstappen	Yeah, okay.
Lambiase	…open the diff and go forwards on the offset, question?
Verstappen	I just complained about the fronts overheating end of braking, how do you want me to solve that, than?
Lambiase	So yes, that was a recommendation. Just wondering whether we could open the diff, come back on the torque bias.

Verstappen was less happy with his car’s balance on the hard tyres, and was surprised to learn towards the end of the stint that he’d strayed beyond track limits twice. Doing so three times triggers a warning in the form of a black-and-white flag, and a fourth means an automatic five-second time penalty.

Not a great drama with a lead of 20 seconds-plus, but one which could put his win in jeopardy if there was a late Safety Car deployment, which is why the team took it seriously:

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Lap: 46/66 VER: 1’18.840
Lambiase	Okay Max that’s your second warning for track limits. First one was turn nine, this one was turn five.
Verstappen	What?
Lambiase	Track limits, two warnings.
Lap: 49/66 VER: 1’19.093
Lambiase	And Max, front wing for this stint?
Verstappen	Er, the same.
Lambiase	Okay.
Lap: 51/66 VER: 1’18.768
Verstappen	It’s just like these hard tyres have no grip. I’m just sliding everywhere.
Lambiase	Understood. Shouldn’t be too long, Max, in terms of stop.
Lap: 52/66 VER: 1’22.849
Lambiase	Okay you can use up what’s left, Max.
Lambiase	Box, Max.
Verstappen	I’m in.

Soon after Verstappen switched to the soft tyres for his final stint he went outside of track limits again. Now Lambiase was genuinely concerned.

“He broke the track limits at turn five on one of two laps and then he did it again at 10 and he was very surprised,” said team principal Christian Horner after the race. “I think he didn’t realise there was a limit there. So his engineer was just informing him of one more strike and it’s a penalty and not to take any risks in the fastest lap.

“The relationship they have is one like an old married couple almost debating about which channel of television they should be watching. But Max was totally in control and he was aware of the risk and was still able to do the fastest lap quite comfortably with the tyres that he had on the car.”

Lap: 59/66 VER: 1’17.761
Lambiase	Okay Max that was a third strike on track limits.
Verstappen	Where?
Lambiase	Turn 10. You [unclear] black and white flag [unclear] Hamilton, no risks required Max.

Verstappen insisted afterwards he had everything under control. “I went over the white line three times, it happens sometimes,” he said.

“Some tracks it’s a bit easier to do and I was struggling a little bit with the harder tyres to keep it within the white lines. once I had that last warning then I had to keep it within the white lines but it’s not an issue really.”

However Lambiase evidently feared it could become a problem when Verstappen began asking what the fastest lap of the race was, angling for the bonus point that came with it. The pair have had this conversation before and the engineer would have known that trying to talk him out of it was futile, but that didn’t stop him trying.

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Lap: 60/66 VER: 1’18.205
Verstappen	What’s the fast lap?
Lambiase	It’s a 16.6, it was the first lap on a new soft for Checo with DRS so I wouldn’t worry about it, Max.
Verstappen	What’s my fastest lap?
Lambiase	Yours is a 17.3. Like I say, you’ve been given a black-and-white flag, so we cannot afford anything.

There was more than a hint of resigned exasperation in Lambiase’s voice after Verstappen banged in the fastest lap. But just as Lambiase had been anxious to maximise their tyre preservation earlier in the race, Verstappen was no less intent on seizing every point available.

Lap: 61/66 VER: 1’16.330
Lap: 62/66 VER: 1’18.014
Lambiase	Mode seven please, Max, mode seven. It’s now five laps remaining.
Lambiase	Okay. Now, can you bring it home within the white lines? Thank you.
Verstappen	Yeah. Yeah.

When the chequered flag fell, Horner couldn’t resist ribbing his driver over his flirtation with track limits.

Lap: 66/66 VER: 1’17.708
Lambiase	Okay this is your final lap.
Lambiase	Well controlled Max, another win.
Verstappen	Yeah good race that. These tyres are a lot better. A lot nicer to drive. Again very lovely result this.
Horner	Well done Max that was mega. Very well controlled. Even though you went over the white lines a few times.
Verstappen	Yeah, just within the limit.
Horner	Very well done. Very well controlled. Masterclass.
Verstappen	Yeah really good weekend so thank you very much everyone.

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