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Mercedes thomas on red bull powertrains

Mercedes notes arrival of Red Bull Powertrains: 'Big change for us'

8 July 2023 at 10:56
Last update 8 July 2023 at 14:20
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  • Toby McLuskie

Formula 1 is facing (yet another) interesting period. New engine regulations will come into force in 2026 and teams are busy developing their power units. A notable newcomer to the well-known manufacturers Ferrari, Alpine, Honda and Mercedes is Red Bull Powertrains. The team of Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez has no engine development experience whatsoever, so the Austrians have been looking for personnel who do. They have been found at Mercedes, among others.

It takes some getting used to for Mercedes, the German team's Hywel Thomas told Silverstone on Saturday morning. Thomas is Managing Director Mercedes AMG HPP, and thus ultimately responsible for engines at Lewis Hamilton and George Russell's team. "I guess it's been a big change for us that we've got a competitor, however many miles it is down the road, 40 miles down the road. It hasn't been really since the early 2000s when Cosworth was in Northampton that we had two manufacturers close together."

Mercedes had to make adjustments

Two potential employers within a small radius mean opportunities for staff to switch jobs. "And they have undoubtedly hired a number of people, and some of them have come from our place", Thomas said. "I don't think there's any secret, and there's no problem with that. People are going to move their careers and are going to want to be involved in different projects. We have had plenty of good people join us to replace those people that left. We've had plenty of really strong people promoted within the organisation"

In the press room at Silverstone, Thomas showed the power unit of the 2021 Mercedes, the car that narrowly missed out on the world title among drivers. Meanwhile, Mercedes' sights are already fully set on '26. "And we've got a really incredibly strong project group that I'm sure is going to be very successful in making an awesome 2026 powertrain. So it caused us to change some directions of some things that we were doing in terms of recruitment and things. But we've always had a strong pipeline of graduates. We've always had a strong pipeline of young, enthusiastic engineers coming through the system. And we've just accelerated some of that. And that sprinkling of people from outside that we've always done, we've perhaps done a little bit more of that."