Red Bull’s Christian Horner has revealed his team has taken 220 members from Mercedes as he hit back at claims from rival Formula 1 bosses over staff departures.
The announcement last week that design guru Adrian Newey will depart Red Bull in 2025 has instigated speculation that a mass exodus could occur within its ranks.
When Brown’s words were put to him post-race, Mercedes boss Toto Wolff concurred that the marque had noticed an increase in people intending to egress Red Bull.
However, Horner, who has had a long-running spat with Wolff going back to the 2021 title fight, believes his counterpart should focus on Mercedes’ on-track struggles.
Horner insists that he is not concerned about potential exits amid his admission that Red Bull’s budding engine division has hired over 200 employees from Mercedes.
“I think it’s inevitable,” Horner said when asked whether he sensed it was a campaign from his rivals. “I think we know there are two candidates involved they talk a lot.
“I’m not going to get sucked in for a tit-for-tat. I’d be more focused on Toto’s own issues that he has.
“I don’t have any concern with the strength and depth, of course. there’s always going to be movement between teams.
“I don’t know how many people we’ve employed from McLaren this year or how many people VCARB have employed [from] Mercedes.
“We’ve taken 220 people, 220 out of HPP into Red Bull Powertrains, so when we’re talking of losing people, I’d be a bit more worried about the 220 than maybe one or two CVs.”
Newey’s decision to vacate his role has been followed with speculation that Sporting Director Jonathan Wheatley could be the next in line to head for new pastures.
Horner would not be drawn on whether Wheatley had communicated a desire to leave as he noted that contractual discussions at Red Bull would remain concealed.
“There’s rumours about everybody,” Horner added. “Contracts between individuals and their terms, and conditions is not something that we really talk about in public.”
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