"He is a bit of our Jason Statham": Christian Horner talks about the role Max Verstappen's race engineer plays in the team

Red Bull Team Principal Christian Horner mentioned that Max Verstappen's race engineer GP Lambiase is their own 'Jason Statham' after winning the 2023 F1 Belgian GP.

The radio communications between Verstappen and Lambiase were broadcasted on the live race for everyone to hear in which fans can see the relationship between the duo pretty clearly.

The pair got into many arguments but also some respectful jousting in the middle of the race while discussing important details such as tire preservation and pit stop management.

In his post-race interview with F1 Live, the Red Bull team boss commented on Max Verstappen and GP Lambiase's dynamic and said:

“GP is a bit of our Jason Statham. He’s a cool operator and he doesn’t take any messing about. There’s great trust and respect between the two of them. And Sometimes they’re like an old married couple, sometimes you think they need a bit of counseling. It’s engaging for you guys but they’ve been together since Max’s first race here, so they know each other extremely well.”

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Max Verstappen expands more on his equation with his race engineer

The Dutch driver stated that he was very well aware that the team does not like to make unnecessary pit stops, but he wanted to have some fun and make them nervous.

In his post-race press conference, Max Verstappen said:

"I know that the team doesn't like to do another stop but I like to mention it so they might get a bit nervous. And then I like the response: ‘no, no, we're not doing that today’. It's fine. We know each other very well and we have a very good relationship."

He also spoke about his relationship with his race engineer and added:

"Yeah, I think it's very important, the relationship with your race engineer. I find it always a really important part of your performance, not only your race engineer but everyone very close around you, performance engineer, these kinds of things."

He concluded:

"And of course, over the years, you build up much more of a relationship, you know each other much better. So yeah, for sure, if he would be removed or whatever that's definitely not ideal at all."

It will be interesting to see if we see anymore fascinating and off-the-cuff banter between the duo in the upcoming races as the championship for both the team and Max Verstappen is almost sealed this season.