Christian Horner: Max Verstappen and his engineer argue like an 'old married couple'

Christian Horner has revealed that the partnership between Max Verstappen and Gianpiero Lambiase was coincidentally initiated through Sebastian Vettel.

The former Red Bull driver interviewed Lambiase to become his race engineer, but then left for Ferrari, which set in motion the link up with Verstappen later on.

Lambiase has earned Verstappen's respect with his blunt communication, and the two have since developed a strong bond.

Lambiase joined Red Bull in 2015 after previously serving as a race engineer for Paul di Resta and Sergio Perez at the team formerly known as Force India. He has been Red Bull's head of race engineer since the summer of last year.

Horner shared how Vettel, who was guided by the renowned Guillaume Rocquelin, also known as 'Rocky,' in their memorable radio exchanges a decade ago, played a significant role in ensuring Lambiase's recruitment by Red Bull.

"GP has grown a huge amount," Horner said in an interview with Motorsport.com.

"GP originally came as a replacement to Rocky, who was stepping up into the role as head of race engineering - the role that GP effectively has now.

"And he went through a gruelling process that included being interviewed at length by Sebastian to become Rocky's successor [as Vettel's race engineer].

"And he committed to join the team and shortly afterwards Sebastian buggered off to Ferrari! So, he came to engineer Sebastian Vettel and got Daniil Kvyat.

"Who he did a great job with and then obviously when Max stepped up and into the main seat, the two of them built a bond very quickly and it's been hugely successful."

He added: "Max is a strong character to deal with and GP is equally as feisty.

"So, sometimes they're like an old married couple arguing about what channel to watch on the TV, but there's a real respect and a trust and a relationship between the two of them."