Formula 1 team, Red Bull Racing, has taken five engine experts away from Mercedes. Two weeks ago, Max Verstappen’s team secured the services of Ben Hodgkinson, who was the head of Mercedes’ engine division.
Red Bull Racing announced the arrival of Steve Blewett, Omid Mostaghimi, Pip Clode, Anton Mayo and Steve Brodie on Thursday. Under the leadership of Hodgkinson, they must start working on “future power sources with which Red Bull can compete for world championships”.
“We know that success can only be achieved by bringing in the best and brightest talent, by giving them the right tools and by creating the right environment in which to thrive,” said team principal Christian Horner.
“Everyone brought in now brings a wealth of experience, expertise and innovation to the Red Bull Powertrains program and provides us with the strongest possible technical platform for the future.”
Red Bull will be using Honda’s engines in-house from 2022 and wants to develop its own power source for after 2025 when Formula 1 introduces a new generation of sustainable hybrid engines.
The Japanese engine supplier will stop in Formula 1 after this season but will make its engines and technological knowledge available to Red Bull for another three years. The Austrian racing stable has opened a technical department at the Milton Keynes factory in England, especially for the maintenance and development of the engines.
Mercedes has been world champion in Formula 1 for the past seven seasons; six times with Lewis Hamilton, once with Nico Rosberg. Red Bull was the best racing stable in the world for the last time in 2013.