Adrian Newey put on blast as GianPiero Lambiase earns Red Bull promotion – F1 News round-up

Your mid-week F1 news round-up ahead of the Singapore GP is in, and it’s been quite a day to get us warmed up…

The Azerbaijan Grand Prix is only just behind us, but we’re already gearing up again as the Singapore Grand Prix weekend kicks off tomorrow.

F1 news: Adrian Newey’s ‘audacity’ criticised

Former F1 driver turned broadcaster Robert Doornbos was left unimpressed by what he described as “audacity” from Adrian Newey as the Red Bull chief technical officer took part in a media presentation and press conference at Aston Martin as his future employment was confirmed.

Newey is set to join the Silverstone-based squad in March 2025, but remains employed by Red Bull after negotiating an early end to his current contract – leading Doornbos to criticise his decision to show up for pomp and ceremony at Aston Martin’s factory.

“What are you going to do there then?” Doornbos told Ziggo Sport. “He just told a story in front of an Aston Martin logo, and then you get in your little car, and you drive to Milton Keynes, and you walk into Red Bull to work on your RB17 again.

“You think that’s possible?! Do you think you can get away with this?

“I understand now that the team is also taking him off the racing team, and not sending him to races anymore. He can now finish the RB17 from a distance.

“That’s not a nice exit after so much success.”

GianPiero Lambiase earns Red Bull promotion as new team structure announced

With Jonathan Wheatley unable to resist the call of a new opportunity in F1 as Audi came calling upon him to become its new team boss, Red Bull has announced a new team structure for F1 2025 after Wheatley’s departure.

Max Verstappen’s race engineer GianPiero Lambiase has earned himself a promotion, following on from recent confirmation of him signing a new deal to remain loyal to Christian Horner’s side.

Alongside his current duties in charge of the race engineering team, Red Bull confirmed that, in his new position, Lambiase will be taking on overall responsibility for the team’s strategy group and sporting regulations operations, alongside heading up Red Bull’s race, heritage, and car build teams – reporting directly to technical director Pierre Waché.

The reigning World Champions also confirmed several other optimisations to its structure to adjust for Wheatley’s departure.

Why has Red Bull scrapped its livery plans for the Singapore Grand Prix?

Red Bull’s RB20 was set to run with a fancy new livery this weekend in Singapore but, just before the event gets underway, the team has confirmed it’ll run its usual livery instead.

The reason for this comes down to just a single kilo of extra weight on the car due to the paint used, highlighting just how seriously the team is taking its title defence.

Franco Colapinto’s hopes of rewarding James Vowles

With Franco Colapinto proving a revelation in the second Williams seat following team boss James Vowles choosing him to replace the struggling Logan Sargeant, the Argentinean driver has done his best to reward the trust being placed in him for his nine-race F1 chance.

Colapinto is entering the conversation for the vacant seat at Sauber as Williams goes to bat for him on the driver market, with no room at the inn for him after Vowles signed Carlos Sainz after the Belgian Grand Prix.

“All I want to prove is that he made the right choice,” Colapinto said.

“In Monza everyone was very happy, it was a very positive race.”

But Colapinto isn’t feeling any jealousy about Sainz getting the seat, praising the Spaniard for his ability to help propel the Grove-based squad forward.

“Carlos is a very good driver, I admire him a lot and his father too,” he said. “They are a family with good genes because they are all very good at what they do. Carlos is a great driver and he got to where he is with a lot of effort.

Max Verstappen Mercedes rumours re-emerge

This is speculation that’s been swirling for quite a while now, although it appeared to calm down somewhat as Mercedes confirmed Kimi Antonelli alongside George Russell for F1 2025.

But, according to F1-Insider.com, Verstappen’s father Jos and manager Raymond Vermuelen have arranged a “gentleman’s agreement” for Max to join Mercedes in 2026.

Another day, another rumour on Max’s future – could Verstappen actually leave Red Bull before the end of his contract running to 2028? Only time will tell…