McLaren Racing CEO Zak Brown has firmly rejected suggestions from Red Bull’s Laurent Mekies that incoming engineer Gianpiero Lambiase will assume the team principal role at McLaren. Speaking to Sky Sports F1 ahead of sprint qualifying at the Miami Grand Prix, Brown expressed bewilderment at Mekies’ comments, stating sarcastically that the Red Bull executive “knows something I don’t, apparently.”
The controversy arose when Mekies erroneously suggested that Lambiase, currently Max Verstappen’s race engineer at Red Bull, would be joining McLaren as team principal rather than in his announced role as chief racing officer. Brown was quick to defend current team principal Andrea Stella, emphasizing his satisfaction with the Italian’s leadership. “I’ve got a great one; I got the best one in the pit lane, Andrea Stella. So I couldn’t be happier with Andrea,” Brown declared.
The speculation has fueled existing rumors suggesting Stella might return to Ferrari to potentially replace Fred Vasseur, though such reports remain unsubstantiated. Lambiase is set to join McLaren by 2028 at the latest, where he will take on the chief racing officer position while Stella continues as team principal but with some of his expanded responsibilities redistributed.
Brown explained McLaren’s strategic approach in pursuing top talent like Lambiase, highlighting the 54-year-old CEO’s long-term vision for the team. “My job as CEO is to get the best talent, to think long term and to have the most strength on the pit wall or at the factory,” Brown stated. He praised Lambiase as “a huge, huge talent” and emphasized that strengthening the racing team through acquisitions of quality personnel—whether drivers, engineers, or strategists—remains a priority for the Woking-based organization.