“In a position to discover important secrets” – Corriere dello Sport has made a huge claim that new Red Bull technical director Ben Hodgkinson is convincing Mercedes engineers to jump ship.
Ben Hodgkinson, Mercedes’ Head of Engineering, has been confirmed to move to Red Bull to work as a Technical Director for their Powertrains Operations. Currently, he is on a ‘gardening leave’ and will only join Red Bull during the autumn of next season.
Red Bull have signed one of the key players involved in Mercedes’ run of success in F1 over the last few years ✍️
Here’s an in-depth look into why it’s such a significant move – and how it could shake things up in the seasons to come ⬇️#F1 https://t.co/7IMxYQuhRc
— Formula 1 (@F1) April 24, 2021
Christian Horner, the Red Bull team principal, welcomed the move, and its significance on their mission to dislodge Mercedes as the champions of the sport.
“We are delighted to welcome Ben to Red Bull Powertrains as Technical Director. He comes to this hugely exciting project as a proven race winner and as an innovator capable of leading a like-minded team of highly skilled engineers.”
Hodgkinson poaching human resources from Mercedes?
In a stunning development, Italian Corriere dello Sport, has claimed: “at Mercedes there is now alarm because it turned out Hodgkinson was talking about the subject with two or three colleagues, clearly trying to get them to follow him”.
The Italian publication also added that “Red Bull [are] in a position to discover important secrets”, from Hodgkinson’s role as Head of Engineering at Mercedes.
The German giants have won seven titles consecutively from 2014 to 2020, and as such Red Bull will offer lucrative pay packages to these engineers convinced, and get them to follow their boss to Milton Keynes.
“The fear is in fact that other valuable technicians may be contacted by Red Bull and accept upward economic offers but without upsetting their lives’ as they would still be based in England.”
