Simon Rennie Replaces Verstappen’s Race Engineer at Austrian GP

According to Motorsport.com, Red Bull Racing announced a temporary change in race engineer position for the Austrian GP — Gianpiero Lambiase is absent due to personal circumstances.

Simon Rennie — an engineer who has been with the team since 2013 and previously handled Mark Webber and Daniel Ricciardo — will take over duties supporting Max Verstappen this weekend.

Dr. Helmut Marko, Red Bull’s motorsport advisor, expressed his confidence in Rennie.

“He came back and is as sharp as he was in his old days. It’s a very direct relationship and it’s working very well so far,” stated Marko.

Verstappen also provided positive feedback about the change:

“I’ve known Simon for a long time and work with him in the simulator. He has a lot of experience and today has been really good. He was straight on it and it was nice,” said the world champion.

In the first practice session, Verstappen recorded the second-fastest time — just 0.065 seconds behind Mercedes’ George Russell. In the second session, the Red Bull driver finished third behind the McLaren duo. The team confirmed Lambiase will return to his duties at next week’s British GP.