David Hamblin, managing director of F1 clutch supplier AP Racing
02 Having secured a deal with Honda to take on the intellectual property of its hybrid power unit and become an engine manufacturer in its own right, Red Bull has gone shopping for engineering talent to crew its new Milton Keynes-based powertrains division.
Naturally it has gone headhunting just down the road at Brixworth, home of the multiple championship-winning Mercedes-benz High Performance Powertrains – to the barely disguised chagrin of Mercedes F1 boss Toto Wolff.
Red Bull announced at the end of April it had appointed former Mercedes HPP man Ben Hodgkinson as technical director. During nearly 20 years with the company, joining when it was known as Ilmor Engineering, he rose to the position of head of mechanical engineering. His focus is understood to be on long-term development as Red Bull looks forward to the next generation of engines planned for introduction in 2025.
A flurry of other announcements followed as Red Bull poached production director Steve Blewett, head of electronics and energy-recovery systems Omid Mostaghimi; head of mechanical design Pip Code, head of internal combustion engine (ICE) design Anton Mayo, and group leader of ICE operations Steve Brodie. The recruitment drive triggered an intriguingly passive-aggressive war of words between Wolff and his Red Bull counterpart, Christian Horner.
“There will always be a back and forth [among technical staff ],” said Wolff. “I understand where Christian is coming from – he wants to build a structure and that’s where you have to write a big cheque sometimes. But that’s OK.”
“Mercedes HPP have done such a strong job over the last 15-to-20 years,” said Horner. “They’ve been an obvious place and a UK base for us to attract talent from.
“Our best chance of hitting the ground running is to bring in some real talent with existing Formula 1 experience. Obviously, they won’t be bringing IP with them but they’ve all been longtimers at HPP, and they’ve produced the benchmark engine over the years. So that’s fantastic for us.”
In a subsequent interview with the Italian edition of GP Racing’s sister website motorsport.com Wolff engaged in punchier rhetoric while playing down the success and impact of Red Bull’s raid.
“We have about 900 people working in Brixworth,” said Wolff. “They approached 100, and got between 10 and 15, mainly manufacturing staff, not performance. In that respect, if I were to build a new factory, I would also start [like that].
“But between hiring a handful of people and having a full up-and-running competitive engine factory, there’s quite a long way to go. Red Bull can do that, with the resource that is being put in, but Mercedes and the others have been in the sport for many decades, building the structure. So 15 guys and an empty building site construction is not going to be sufficient in order to be competitive in three years with a new power unit.”
Red Bull says it received over 600 applications for its initial batch of jobs and its recruitment drive is continuing.