“It’s a Mount Everest to climb” – Toto Wolff has also suggested Red Bull Powertrains contacted around 100 Mercedes engine staff but has found success with only 15 or so.
As expected, Mercedes have responded to arch-rivals Red Bull confirming the signing of six Mercedes HPP staff. Team principal Toto Wolff has also gone on to hint that Red Bull has found success with around 15 of them, after contacting over a hundred of them.
Their battle with Mercedes has begun even off track!
Toto Wolff doesn’t look very happy about these transfers, mostly coming from Brixworth where the Mercedes Powertrains department is based#F1 #Mercedes #RedBull
— hotlapmode (@hotlapmode) May 6, 2021
If this is the case, an announcement is expected in the coming days. Red Bull has been pretty aggressive in their hiring approach so far, and this has certainly alarmed Mercedes, as much as Wolff tries to hide it.
“It’s pretty obvious that if you want to set up an engine factory in the UK, there’s only one and that’s us. We have 900 or so employees there. And if you’re fishing out 15 of these or so, that’s pretty normal.
“But they went mainly after manufacturing staff so it’s not really [for] performance. I guess they want to build up the company. But credit to the project, it’s a Mount Everest to climb and I’d like to have a fight with Red Bull power units.
“I think they have approached 100 people or and they got 15, maybe. Doubling the salaries is one thing but if you triple them, at a certain stage, you’re not going to compete anymore, even for loyal people. But it is what it is. I respect everybody that wants to defend his business or build their business and retaliation time has not yet come.”
Also read “Focused at being a Red Bull engine” – Christian Horner reveals plan for Red Bull Powertrains
