RedBull Recruit Key Mercedes Powertrain Engineer

[HighwayStar]

Red Bull hire Ben Hodgkinson from Mercedes to lead new powertrains division in sign of 'long-term intent'

https://www.skysports.com/f1/news/12475/12284741/r...

[TheDeuce]

A smart and predictable move - of course they need F1 PU development talent. I'm sure that they'll be hiring several others not noteworthy enough to make the press too.

They pretty much need to fully staff what used to be a PU assembly works in to a PU development works.

[wibble cb]

HighwayStar said:

Red Bull hire Ben Hodgkinson from Mercedes to lead new powertrains division in sign of 'long-term intent'

https://www.skysports.com/f1/news/12475/12284741/r...

Contracted to MB for a good while yet....but a deal will no doubt be done

[HighwayStar]

wibble cb said:

HighwayStar said:

Red Bull hire Ben Hodgkinson from Mercedes to lead new powertrains division in sign of 'long-term intent'

https://www.skysports.com/f1/news/12475/12284741/r...

Contracted to MB for a good while yet....but a deal will no doubt be done

Of course but he’ll inevitably serve a period of gardening leave before taking up his position at RedBull.

[Fundoreen]

Lucky the new engine formula isn't decided yet so he shouldn't run away with advanced knowledge. But must know what Mercedes have planned to try and influence the direction as they did last time.

[entropy]

Either RBR are serious about developing PUs in the long term and/or the chance of heading RBR's PU department was too good to miss.

[HighwayStar]

entropy said:

Either RBR are serious about developing PUs in the long term and/or the chance of heading RBR's PU department was too good to miss.

Ermmmm... plus many £££££££s

[thegreenhell]

We're still waiting for Andy Cowell to pop up in a new role too.

[jimPH]

Work the budget caps coming up, surely big teams like mercedes will have to downsize anyway?

[vaud]

entropy said:

Either RBR are serious about developing PUs in the long term and/or the chance of heading RBR's PU department was too good to miss.

Or building them to allow VW/Porsche/etc to apply their badge to it in return for lots of €

[SturdyHSV]

vaud said:

Or building them to allow VW/Porsche/etc to apply their badge to it in return for lots of €

I've been pondering this too, seems a great marketing product for RB to offer to OEMs, have your name on an F1 engine with a far cheaper barrier to entry...

Porsche have that refinery of synthetic fuels operational, which F1 will be using in the future...

Porsche / TAG have F1 history and TAG already sponsor RB...

[n3il123]

SturdyHSV said:

I've been pondering this too, seems a great marketing product for RB to offer to OEMs, have your name on an F1 engine with a far cheaper barrier to entry...

Porsche have that refinery of synthetic fuels operational, which F1 will be using in the future...

Porsche / TAG have F1 history and TAG already sponsor RB...

It was TAG who sponsored the Porsche engine in the 80's

Heuer the watch company who sponsor Red Bull were bought by TAG in the 80's but are now nothing todo with TAG Group now (bought by LVMH in 99).


TAG own a chunk of McLaren group so are unlikely to sponsor the Red Bull engine programme.

[carinaman]

thegreenhell said:

We're still waiting for Andy Cowell to pop up in a new role too.

Posted yesterday on YouTube there's an interview with the Scottish Sky person and Horner talking about this. Horner said Cowell's intent on following other opportunities.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lL1qV3i7zPU

[Teddy Lop]

vaud said:

entropy said:

Either RBR are serious about developing PUs in the long term and/or the chance of heading RBR's PU department was too good to miss.

Or building them to allow VW/Porsche/etc to apply their badge to it in return for lots of €

Toto would seem to think so, and Horner all but blew a gasket when asked to comment

I mean, if honda were to consider such machinations they might feel their IPs worth a little more? Or worth a restriction clause from being exploited by a competitor?. Surely they're not going to repeat the brawnGP mistake?

Either way top marks to Toto for winding up horner

[anonymous-user]

The 2022 cars are going to be massive based on this picture of Hamilton at his seat fitting with the Mercedes.

[thegreenhell]

And now stealing more Mercedes staff...

https://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/red-bull-powert...

[HighwayStar]

thegreenhell said:

And now stealing more Mercedes staff...

https://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/red-bull-powert...

Beat me to it... I was always going to happen. It’ll be interesting to see how Mercedes react, how much strength in depth they have. Do the five leave straightaway plus gardening leave.

[DanielSan]

thegreenhell said:

And now stealing more Mercedes staff...

https://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/red-bull-powert...

How are they stealing staff exactly? They're not being forced to leave Mercedes at gun point

[Fundoreen]

What does the budget cap say?
Maybe mercedes had an advantage as they could hide a lot of spending on the engine side in the future.
Now reb bull want to do the same with all the spare cash they would otherwise have due to budget cap.

[Sandpit Steve]

Fundoreen said:

What does the budget cap say?
Maybe mercedes had an advantage as they could hide a lot of spending on the engine side in the future.
Now reb bull want to do the same with all the spare cash they would otherwise have due to budget cap.

As Honda are pulling out, Red Bull need to set up their own engine shop in Milton Keynes.

Co-incidentally, there’s one other F1 engine shop in the UK, run by a company facing a development freeze and a budget cap that leaves them somewhat overstaffed for the next three or four years.

Guess what happens next...