Red Bull team boss Christian Horner says it was “inevitable” that Mercedes High Performance Powertrains employees would eventually wind up joining his outfit’s new engine department, given the close proximity of the two sites.
Earlier this week Red Bull confirmed six new senior positions at its new Powertrains division had been filled by either current or ex-Mercedes staff.
It comes as Red Bull builds up its new engine department, which will take over Honda’s operation when it quits Formula 1 at the end of the year, as well as designing and building a new power unit to meet the 2025 regulations.
Horner believes it was inevitable talented employees would seek a new challenge and given how close Milton Keynes is to Mercedes’ Brixworth factory, it makes such a decision easier.
“I think there is an inevitability that obviously we’re based in the UK, we’re only 30 miles up the road from Brixworth where Mercedes have chosen to build their engines in the UK,” Horner told Sky Sports F1.
“And they’ve done that for a reason because the talent is within the UK. I think for us bringing the engines on site within the campus, fully integrating it with the chassis is tremendously appealing.
“At the end of the day, you can’t force someone to work where they don’t want to be, and if we’re an attractive place to be and people see that racing spirit and they want to be part of it, they’re going to come on the journey.”
Horner suggested Red Bull has been able to attract enough talent on top of those who will move over from Honda.
“We’ve been very flattered by the amount of approaches that we’ve had. Of course, we’re starting with a clean sheet of paper and it’s important to get the right people in the right positions.
“Obviously, we’ve had quite a bit of success in attracting some fantastic talent on top of the talent that we will inherit from Honda when they depart at the end of the year.”
Mercedes is offering to double the salary of these fleeing employees, yet they are still leaving. Something is clearly not right at Mercedes. If Hamilton doesn’t retire, I would not be surprised to see him flee as well.