© Steve Etherington for Mercedes-Benz Grand Prix Ltd.
Toto Wolff says Red Bull approached around 100 Mercedes employees to join their new engine division and managed to get “15 maybe”.
Recently Red Bull announced that five Mercedes High Performance Powertrains employees have jumped ship to join Red Bull’s new engine plant – Red Bull Powertrains.
This comes after Red Bull signed Mercedes’ Head of Mechanical Engineering Ben Hodgkinson to become the technical director of their new factory.
Toto Wolff is not surprised by this turn of events, as the two teams’ headquarters are very close to one antoher.
“If you want to set up an engine factory in the UK, there is only one, and that is us,” the Austrian told Sky Sports F1.
“We have 900 or so employees there, and if we are fishing out 15 of these or so, that’s pretty normal.
“But they went mainly after manufacturing staff, so it’s not really performance. I guess they want to build up the company.
“But credit to the project, it’s a Mount Everest to climb. I’d like to have a fight with Red Bull power units.”
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Wolff reveals Red Bull “in all approached 100 people or so, and they got 15 maybe.”
Red Bull’s advisor Dr Helmut Marko recently stated that Mercedes was doubling the salary of employees who choose to stay with the team. Wolff was asked if this was the only way for Mercedes to keep their employees.
“Doubling the salaries is one thing, but if you triple them, at a certain stage, you’re not going to compete any more, even for loyal people. But it is what it is.
“I respect everybody that wants to defend his business or build his business, and the retaliation time has not yet come,” concluded Wolff.
