Max Verstappen's first step towards life away from long-serving Formula 1 race engineer Gianpiero Lambiase was not straightforward, thanks to a messy United States Grand Prix.
A middling start, radio communication problems that were labelled a "disaster", and annoyance over the strategy had, however, nothing to do with his future engineer Tom Hart being at his side for the first time.
As part of Red Bull's preparations to phase Lambiase out ahead of his switch to McLaren, by 2028 at the latest, the team has begun handing his replacement Hart more responsibilities.
Hart had already filled in during a few practice sessions since the summer break and at Austin he stepped up for the entire weekend, with Lambiase keeping a watching brief in the background.
It was not an easy weekend, especially because of the radio problems that the team remains baffled by, but Red Bull was upbeat about how things went considering it was Hart and Verstappen's first race together.
Team principal Laurent Mekies said: "I think he [Hart] did an excellent job, and you see me smiling because I certainly remember what it is to be on your first race as a race engineer - and he picked a fairly complicated race to do that."
Red Bull knows that a strong dynamic between driver and engineer cannot be built overnight, so even though Hart and Verstappen know each other very well it is going to take time for them to reach the level of understanding that Verstappen has enjoyed with Lambiase.
Mekies said that his impression over the weekend was that the dynamic had bedded down as well as could be expected.
"First qualifying, first race, he has managed to channel very well the work of the engineering teams behind him, to Max," said Mekies of Hart.
"The race was a complicated race, and we are probably a bit frustrated with the P3, which is good news. But I really think he did an excellent job, and he was very well supported by GP [Lambiase] as well in the background.
"I'm sure you cannot recreate a relationship in no time, but I have every confidence that we are going to see him ramping up and building that relationship with Max."
Red Bull plans to continue evolving that relationship throughout the rest of this season, with Hart and Lambiase set to alternate the role over the remaining races.
Longer term, while Hart is set to take over fully from the beginning of 2027, it is not clear how much of a mentoring role Lambiase will continue to have. That will very much depend on how long he remains involved at Red Bull.
No date has yet been agreed for when Lambiase will join McLaren as its new chief racing officer, and his contract at Red Bull does not run out until the end of next year.
Red Bull is not eager to let him go early, while McLaren wants to get hold of him as early as possible - ideally at some point in 2027.
At the Spanish GP in Madrid last month, McLaren CEO Zak Brown held a brazen public meeting with Lambiase in the paddock to help draw attention to the matter as discussions continue with Red Bull.
The priority for Red Bull is to hold on to Lambiase for as long as it needs to ensure that there is a smooth transition to a new structure, which also includes the arrival of Aston Martin's Tom McCullough as its new head of racing.
And while Hart has started to get his feet under the desk in his new role, McCullough does not begin work at Milton Keynes until January - which means Lambiase will have to remain on board at least until the early part of next year if he is to assist in the handover there.
from The Race https://ift.tt/B8x46q7
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