Toto Wolff: ‘Mercedes not bragging about constant influx of Red Bull staff’

Toto Wolff has said the Mercedes team has a “constant influx” of staff arrivals from their Red Bull rivals.

The Mercedes to Red Bull path is one that has been well trodden of late with a number of figures leaving the Silver Arrows power unit division to take up roles at the newly formed Red Bull Powertrains.

The hiring of long-time Mercedes engineer Ben Hodgkinson as technical director was announced in May 2021 along with five more hires from Mercedes AMG High Performance Powertrains.

But Wolff suggested losing staff members to rival teams was normal and that it is not just Red Bull where former Mercedes employees have ended up.

“I’ve said before that it is a very ambitious project with Red Bull Powertrains and is a very courageous project,” Wolff told media including PlanetF1.com in the build-up to the British Grand Prix.

“HPP has 1,000 employees and we lost some to Red Bull in the same way we lost some to Ferrari and we lost some to Renault.

But Wolff has revealed the Brixworth to Milton Keynes route is not one way and that they have a “constant influx” of arrivals from Red Bull but unlike their rivals, they do not brag about it.

“We are not bragging about having people join us from Red Bull,” the Silver Arrows boss said.

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“We have not mentioned the names but we have a constant influx of Red Bull people as we have from the other teams.

“That is happening all the time and so the people they’ve hired, we wish them the best.

“Some of them were retired in our organisation and ended up there in leading positions but that’s fine so they’ve been given a second life.”