Major blow for Max Verstappen as the driver's key ally a notable absentee at the F1 Belgian GP

Red Bull driver Max Verstappen will head into the 2025 Belgian Grand Prix without his race engineer Gianpiero Lambiase. The Verstappen-Lambiase combination is one of the most noticeable in the sport currently and has become iconic over the years.

The Anglo-Italian race engineer has been by the Dutch driver's side since the start of the latter's time in the Austrian team in Spain in 2016. Ever since his first race, GP has been an integral part of the reigning four-time F1 world champion's success on the track.

As reported by de Telegraaf, the 44-year-old will be a notable absentee from the upcoming Belgian Grand Prix this weekend as he will miss the race due to personal reasons. This is the second time in the past three races that Lambiase will be absent from a race weekend, as he had missed out on the Austrian Grand Prix last month as well.

Similar to Austria, Max Verstappen will partner with Simon Rennie, who was previously Daniel Ricciardo's race engineer in the Milton Keynes-based outfit. The Dutch driver would hope that he could have a different outcome in Spa compared to his DNF in Spielberg.

It is unclear if the Italian will return to the next weekend's Hungarian Grand Prix or will join Max Verstappen straight after the summer break next month.

Max Verstappen reflects on his future in the post-Christian Horner era

Red Bull driver Max Verstappen stated that Christian Horner's firing as team principal and CEO will have no bearing on his future within the Austrian team.

Speaking in the pre-race interview, the 27-year-old delved into his future and said (via F1.com):

"I don't think it will matter at all for my decision in the future. The only thing that matters is that we work on the car and make it as fast as we can make it, really. The last one and a half years have not been what we want to be. Now we try and be more competitive this year, a little bit, but for sure also with the new regulations."

Verstappen revealed that he had a few initial interactions with new team principal Laurent Mekies and added (via Autosport):

“Of course I already had quite a few meetings with Laurent as well. The last two weeks have been quite intense for him to jump in. We'll keep that between ourselves, of course, but he's incredibly motivated, and I like that.

"You can see the fire. Of course, it's new in the role, but it's exciting. He's a very nice guy, first of all, very clever guy. He's been in different areas of the F1 paddock as well. And I think that can be helpful.”

Max Verstappen has posted the fastest time in Spa for the last four years, but took engine penalties in the last three seasons running, which meant that he was not classified on pole.