General
Mercedes: "We haven't lost anyone to Audi"
- GPblog.com
Red Bull Racing has set up its own engine programme with Red Bull Powertrains and Audi will do the same from 2026. However, the German marque has very limited knowledge of F1 engineering in terms of power sources, so it is inevitable that they will shop around for personnel from other teams. An exodus from Mercedes? Toto Wolff is not too worried about that, it seems.
Red Bull Powertrains took over around fifty employees from Mercedes, including key names such as Ben Hodgkinson, Steve Blewett and Omid Mostaghim. Mercedes knows how much it hurts to see a lot of staff leave at once, but Wolff doesn't think Mercedes will necessarily bear the brunt of Audi's entry into Formula 1.
So far Mercedes has kept all its employees on board. "We haven't lost anyone to Audi. But there will undoubtedly be situations where Mercedes or ex-Mercedes people will go to Audi," Wolff is quoted as saying by Motorsport-Total.com . The Mercedes team boss speaks of a 'free market' and accepts that such things happen. The Austrian is not too worried and states that people are also being attracted. "We just don't issue a press release every time."
Audi wants to become factory team in F1
Audi has so far only announced it will build engines in motorsport's premier class from 2026, but the aim is to run a fully owned team from the same time. Presumably Sauber (which runs as Alfa Romeo Racing until 2023) will be taken over. Audi will then be a full factory team of its own.