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Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff gave his opinion on where he thinks Red Bull is going with its engine division, while Red Bull team boss Christian Horner said Toto needs to ‘mind his own business’.
Red Bull is in the middle of building its own engine factory at its base in Milton Keynes, with an idea to develop its own engines in the future.
For this purpose the Austrian team recently announced the signing of Mercedes’ Head of Mechanical Engineering Ben Hodgkinson, who will head the new division.
Toto Wolff believes Red Bull made a smart move, but gives his own theory regarding the direction in which the team is heading.
“On one side, they are keen on doing their own power unit, but it’s no secret that the Volkswagen Group with their two brands is looking at Formula 1, and has been part of the discussions,” the Austrian said.
“So [Red Bull] can at any moment decide if they want to stick to their own power unit, or go with a top German manufacturer.
“On the other side, the arrangement they have on the IP side with Honda is really makes sense. They are taking over the IP from Honda and obviously developing the new power unit into 2025.
“It could stay within Red Bull power units, or it could go to Porsche/Audi. So overall, I think it makes sense what they do.”
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Wolff adds he hopes Volkswagen will ultimately decide to enter Formula 1.
“I think it’s very early stages. They’ve expressed an interest, and that was public, and in that respect, I would very much hope that they enter the sport.
“Volkswagen Group has a historic connection with Red Bull all over the platforms, and it’s just logical that they are going to look at a relationship with Red Bull.
“And if they can utilise the Honda IP, and the learning there from whatever Volkswagen power unit would enter – and I’m saying would because I have no idea and it is none of my business – they will benefit from all these relationships and intellectual property carried forward.”
When Wolff’s theory was relayed to Red Bull team boss Christian Horner, he advised the Austrian to ‘mind his own business’.
“Toto always likes to think he knows what’s going on in other people’s business, but he needs to think about his own,” the Briton told Sky Sports.
“We’re building a fantastic facility, we’ve got some great talent coming into the facility. It’s going to be on campus, it’s going to be integrated fully with the chassis side of the business. We’ll be the only team other than Ferrari to have that.
“And of course what the engine is called is another matter. At the moment, there’s no discussions in place. It’s focused on being a Red Bull engine.
“But you know, of course, that engine could be called anything in the future, but to have it integrated fully into Milton Keynes is tremendously exciting,” concluded Horner.
