Max Verstappen worked with his new Red Bull engineer, Tom Hart, at the United States Grand Prix this weekend.

Verstappen’s longtime partner Gianpiero Lambiase is gradually handing over to Hart ahead of his move to McLaren, though the date of his departure hasn’t yet been finalised.

Hart will also support the four-time world champion at the Brazilian Grand Prix, the final leg of the current triple-header, and the Las Vegas GP.

Max Verstappen’s miscommunication with Tom Hart during the US Grand Prix was telling

Verstappen was generally frustrated during Sunday’s race as his hopes of challenging Kimi Antonelli for victory slipped away. His two-stop strategy, against Antonelli’s one-stop, didn’t work, and he eventually lost second place to Charles Leclerc.

Red Bull weren’t as fast as expected, and Verstappen’s problems were exacerbated by an engine braking issue.

He also complained about the delay in swapping the cars when he caught up to teammate Isack Hadjar on fresher tyres, though the team did tell Hadjar to let him by at turn 12. The Frenchman didn’t oblige until three corners later.

The highlight of Verstappen’s race was perhaps an opportunistic pass on Lando Norris into turn one while defending against Leclerc. The Ferrari eventually followed him through and it seemed like a matter of time before he lost the position.

He was clearly wary of a charging Lewis Hamilton, too, which led to the following exchange.

Verstappen: “Gap behind Lando?”

Hart: “1.2.”

Verstappen: “Car behind Lando?”

Hart: “Car behind now Leclerc.”

Verstappen: “No, [I want] the gap behind Lando’s car!”

Short-tempered radio messages from Verstappen are nothing new, but nobody can question the understanding he has built with Lambiase. They even managed to communicate effectively in Singapore when the radio only went one way.

Hart’s confusion was a small but telling insight into the challenge Verstappen faces. He may not be a new addition to the team, but he still needs to build that telepathic relationship with his new driver.

Along similar lines, Verstappen shouted ‘[does he have] overtake or not?’ when he was defending against Leclerc. He wanted the information from the pitwall to arrive quicker.

Comparisons will be drawn with Lewis Hamilton’s split from Peter Bonnington when he left Mercedes at the end of 2024. After 12 seasons with ‘Bono’, he struggled to gel with Riccardo Adami and Ferrari had to make a change after just one year.

Verstappen has worked with Lambiase ever since he joined Red Bull in 2016, though a key difference is that Hart, GP’s successor, is already part of his engineering team.