Wolff: Red Bull approached 100 Mercedes staff over F1 engine move
Toto Wolff says Red Bull approached around 100 Mercedes staff over a move to its new Formula 1 engine division after announcing a raft of recent signings.


Red Bull revealed in February that it would be forming its own power unit arm, known as Red Bull Powertrains, that would take over the existing Honda engine IP upon the Japanese manufacturer’s F1 exit at the end of the year.
Red Bull is making plans to produce and develop its own power unit in-house upon the next generation of engines in 2025, led by technical director Ben Hodgkinson, who will join from Mercedes High Performance Powertrains.
A further five Mercedes staff members were named on Thursday as new signings for Red Bull Powertrains, with their moves coming against the backdrop of the two teams fighting for this year’s world championship.
Mercedes F1 boss Wolff said he felt no frustration over the moves, adding it was “pretty obvious” where the talent would lie for an engine division being established in the UK.

Sergio Perez, Red Bull Racing RB16B
Photo by: Steven Tee / Motorsport Images
“If you want to set up an engine factory in the UK, there is only one, and that is us,” Wolff said on 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.
Read Also:
“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.”
Wolff went on to reveal that Red Bull has “in all approached 100 people or so, and they got 15 maybe.”
Red Bull advisor Helmut Marko was quoted in the German press recently saying that Mercedes was doubling the salary of staff members who turned down a move.
Asked if such an offer was the only way to counter the approaches, Wolff replied: “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.”
Red Bull F1 boss Christian Horner said earlier on Friday that it was an “inevitability” Mercedes staff would be approached given the proximity of the team to its rival’s engine headquarters.
Related video

F1 Spanish GP: Hamilton tops FP2, Verstappen only ninth
Hamilton happy to see F1 rivals catching up in 2021

Latest news
Hamilton: "Way more" to be done to help progression from W Series
Seven-time Formula 1 world champion Lewis Hamilton believes “way more” needs to be done to help ensure progression from W Series and give women more opportunities in racing.
Autosport Podcast: Ranking the top 10 Arrows F1 drivers
The Arrows Formula 1 team was a mainstay of the world championship for 24 years between 1978 and 2002, with its perennial underdog status earning widespread admiration.
The under-fire F1 driver fighting for his future
Personable, articulate and devoid of the usual racing driver airs and graces, Nicholas Latifi is the last Formula 1 driver you’d expect to receive death threats, but such was the toxic legacy of his part in last year’s explosive season finale. And now, as ALEX KALINAUCKAS explains, he faces a battle to keep his place on the F1 grid…
Ferrari: F1 team orders idea discussed more outside than internally
Ferrari says the use of team orders between Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz is “more discussed outside Ferrari than inside Ferrari” as it targets parity with its Formula 1 drivers.
The under-fire F1 driver fighting for his future
Personable, articulate and devoid of the usual racing driver airs and graces, Nicholas Latifi is the last Formula 1 driver you’d expect to receive death threats, but such was the toxic legacy of his part in last year’s explosive season finale. And now, as ALEX KALINAUCKAS explains, he faces a battle to keep his place on the F1 grid…
The strange tyre travails faced by F1’s past heroes
Modern grand prix drivers like to think the tyres they work with are unusually difficult and temperamental. But, says MAURICE HAMILTON, their predecessors faced many of the same challenges – and some even stranger…
The returning fan car revolution that could suit F1
Gordon Murray's Brabham BT46B 'fan car' was Formula 1 engineering at perhaps its most outlandish. Now fan technology has been successfully utilised on the McMurtry Speirling at the Goodwood Festival of Speed, could it be adopted by grand prix racing once again?
Hamilton's first experience of turning silver into gold
The seven-time Formula 1 world champion has been lumbered with a duff car before the 2022 Mercedes. Back in 2009, McLaren’s alchemists transformed the disastrous MP4-24 into a winning car with Lewis Hamilton at the wheel. And now it’s happening again at his current team, but can the rate of progress be matched this year?
Why few could blame Leclerc for following the example of Hamilton’s exit bombshell
OPINION: Ferrari's numerous strategy blunders, as well as some of his own mistakes, have cost Charles Leclerc dearly in the 2022 Formula 1 title battle in the first half of the season. Though he is locked into a deal with Ferrari, few could blame Leclerc if he ultimately wanted to look elsewhere - just as Lewis Hamilton did with McLaren 10 years prior
The other McLaren exile hoping to follow Perez's path to a top F1 seat
After being ditched by McLaren earlier in his F1 career Sergio Perez fought his way back into a seat with a leading team. BEN EDWARDS thinks the same could be happening to another member of the current grid
How studying Schumacher helped make Coulthard a McLaren F1 mainstay
Winner of 13 grands prix including Monaco and survivor of a life-changing plane crash, David Coulthard could be forgiven for having eased into a quiet retirement – but, as MARK GALLAGHER explains, in fact he’s busier than ever, running an award-winning media company and championing diversity in motor racing. Not bad for someone who, by his own admission, wasn’t quite the fastest driver of his generation…
Could F1 move to a future beyond carbonfibre?
Formula 1 has ambitious goals for improving its carbon footprint, but could this include banishing its favoured composite material? PAT SYMONDS considers the alternatives to carbonfibre and what use, if any, those materials have in a Formula 1 setting