McLaren eyes early Lambiase arrival amid upgrade doubts

McLaren CEO Zak Brown hopes to bring Max Verstappen’s long-time race engineer Gianpiero Lambiase to Woking a year earlier than initially expected - as doubts emerge over the team’s latest aerodynamic upgrade.

McLaren has already confirmed Lambiase’s recruitment from Red Bull, with an arrival originally expected by 2028.

But Brown told Sky at Sepang that he is targeting a much earlier start.

"I’m optimistic that we’ll see him in papaya at some point next year," he said.

Lambiase has worked alongside Verstappen since 2016 and will take up the newly created role of chief racing officer, reporting to team principal Andrea Stella.

The likely early move comes as McLaren faces questions over its competitiveness following a difficult weekend in Malaysia.

Ralf Schumacher told Sky Deutschland that McLaren’s latest development package appears to have backfired, much like Mercedes’ substantial Sepang upgrade.

"The real shock for me is that McLaren has lost its way back to the top," he said.

"The update is definitely a flop. I hope they are open enough to reverse it, because this is a huge problem."

Brown, however, insisted that the atmosphere at McLaren remains positive.

"I’m very excited about everything we have running in the factory," he said.

"We’ve made up a lot of ground this year after a very difficult start, but I feel like we’re more or less in control of things now."

"There is still a lot of work to do."