Verstappen and Lambiase use radio code in Singapore as Hart steps in for three races

Max Verstappen and race engineer Gianpiero Lambiase improvised a radio code during Sunday's Singapore Grand Prix after a communications problem left Verstappen's replies unintelligible. He could hear the team, but his answers could not be understood.

In the closing stages, Lambiase asked Verstappen to remain silent if he wanted another pit stop in the event of a safety car; pressing the radio button meant he preferred to keep track position. The signal gave Lambiase a way to obtain his driver's choice without a clear spoken reply.

Verstappen said Lambiase had also tried asking questions in code and that he thought his engineer understood “what I meant or what I didn’t want.” He joked that Lambiase might have been glad the radio was not working properly. Verstappen said his radio had caused difficulties throughout the season and had been particularly bad that weekend.

Team principal Laurent Mekies said the problem was on Red Bull's side, rather than due to the circumstances in Singapore, and was not the same issue as the one in FP1. He said Red Bull was taking the problem seriously and expected a strong solution, since communication failures could cost decisive time at crucial moments.

Separately, Red Bull confirmed to Autosport that Tom Hart will be Verstappen's race engineer in Austin, Brazil and Las Vegas, replacing Lambiase in that role for those weekends.

Hart had been due to join Williams as Alexander Albon's race engineer, but Red Bull retained him after Verstappen made his preference for Lambiase's successor known internally. The three race weekends will give Hart and Verstappen time to become more familiar with working together.

Lambiase will still be at the circuit during those weekends in his role as Head of Racing. No official date has been set for Hart's permanent takeover; Red Bull is discussing Lambiase's start date and gardening leave with McLaren, and the timing depends partly on those arrangements.