Red Bull steal another FIVE Mercedes engineers

Another five Mercedes engineers have jumped ship and joined Red Bull Powertrains.

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Following Honda’s announcement that they would be walking away from Formula One at the end of this season, Red Bull put into place a new company that would run the Honda engines as their own.

Then came the job of staffing the Red Bull Powertrains division.

Red Bull team boss Christian Horner made it clear he wanted only the “best” talent for the new division and promptly announced Mercedes’ head of mechanical engineering Ben Hodgkinson as the new technical director.

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Hodgkinson is presently on gardening leave that could run until late 2022.

With rumours that Hodgkinson had been speaking with his Mercedes colleagues about the new endeavour, it is not a surprise that Red Bull have now confirmed a further five Mercedes staff members are heading to Milton Keynes.

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The senior leadership appointments include:

PU Production Director – Steve Blewett, formerly Head of Manufacturing at Mercedes Benz HPE
Head of Powertrains Electronics and ERS – Omid Mostaghimi, formerly F1 Electronics Team Leader at Mercedes AMG HPP
Head of Mechanical Design ERS – Pip Clode, formerly Team Leader – F1 Power Unit Concept at Mercedes AMG HPP
Head of PU Design ICE – Anton Mayo, formerly engineer at Mercedes AMG HPP
Group Leader ICE Operations – Steve Brodie, formerly F1 trackside and final inspection manager at Mercedes AMG HPP

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Red Bull Powertrains will also welcome a new Head of Mechanical Development, although that person’s name has yet to be announced.

Red Bull team principal and powertrains CEO Christian Horner said: “Red Bull’s mission to bring all aspects of its Formula 1 operations in-house through Red Bull Powertrains is an enormously exciting undertaking but also an extremely demanding one, and we know that success will only be achieved by bringing in the best and brightest talent, by providing them with the right tools and by creating the right environment in which they can thrive.

“Today’s key leadership team appointments demonstrate our strong commitment to those goals and we certainly benefit from our campus being located in the UK where we have access to a huge wealth of engineering talent.

“Working with our new technical director, Ben Hodgkinson, and alongside key personnel retained from Honda Racing Development, each of the senior personnel announced today bring a wealth of experience, expertise and innovation to the Red Bull Powertrains programme and provide us with the strongest possible technical platform for the future.“