In an amusing anecdote, Max Verstappen shares how he had to disappoint his race engineer, Gianpiero Lambiase, in 2024. The two have been working together since Verstappen’s early days at Red Bull, with the Dutchman’s four world titles being the highlights of their collaboration. Despite their successful partnership, Verstappen did not name his latest cat after Lambiase, and the driver explains why.
Max Verstappen and race engineer Gianpiero Lambiase have been working together since the Dutchman’s promotion to Red Bull in 2016. The interactions between the two over the team radio have led to several memorable moments, but unfortunately for Lambiase, this did not translate into a small tribute to the engineer.
The British engineer jokingly told Sky Sports that he was disappointed that the world champion did not name his latest cat after Lambiase. “I think (Verstappen) just got a new cat and he said he would name it GP. But he named it Donatello or something else silly,” said a disappointed Lambiase.
Penelope
Verstappen now explains why he could not name the newest member of the family after his race engineer. The Red Bull driver shares how the decision ultimately fell to ‘bonus daughter’ Penelope. “Yes, because Penelope, I asked her, what do you think of this name? However, she didn’t want to name the cat GP, so we had to go for a different name,” Verstappen concludes to Sportskeeda.
