Broken radio, race engineer on the podium: Verstappen's special Singapore win
Red Bull sent Gianpiero Lambiase to collect the trophy – possibly his last podium with Verstappen. Tom Hart takes over on the radio for the first time in Austin.
Photo: Liauzh / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0 (cropped and resized)
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Max Verstappen's first Singapore win came with a surprise: Red Bull sent his long-time race engineer Gianpiero Lambiase to collect the constructors' trophy on the podium. "I didn't expect him to go to the podium with me!" Verstappen said, according to GPFans. "It could be the last one." Lambiase has engineered Verstappen since his first win in Spain in 2016; he is moving to McLaren, with the timing still being negotiated between Red Bull and McLaren, Motorsport.com reports.
During the race, Verstappen's radio malfunctioned: he could hear the team, but his replies were unintelligible. Lambiase and Verstappen used a coded system instead – silence meant pitting under a safety car, a press of the radio button meant staying out. "Maybe GP was happy that it was not working!" Verstappen joked. Team principal Laurent Mekies said the fault was on Red Bull's side.
At three of the six remaining races – Austin, São Paulo and Las Vegas – Tom Hart will be Verstappen's race engineer, with Lambiase staying at the track as Head of Racing. Hart is set to succeed Lambiase permanently; he had originally been earmarked for Williams. The next race is the United States Grand Prix on October 25.