In October 2020 Honda displaced the Red Bull announcing his withdrawal from F1 at the end of 2021 to focus on the conversion of the Japanese giant’s plants to pursue the goal of zero carbon emissions in 2030. The Milton Keynes team has responded to the prospect of being left without a power unit supplier by finally covering the coveted road to independence by investing large sums of money in the creation of the division dedicated to power units, Red Bull Powertrains Limited.
In addition to the structure, of course, Red Bull also had to acquire personnel and contracted many Mercedes technicians, starting with Ben Hodgkinson who was appointed head of the new engine division. The equipping of this workforce and the founding of Red Bull Powertrains Limited is convincing Red Bull to ‘run alone’ in the creation of the 2026 power unit without the contribution of Porsche and without that of Honda, reluctant to accept to deal ‘only’ with the electrical part.
In 2026, another engine manufacturer, Audi, will certainly be at the start in F1, but for the Quattro Cerchi company it will not be easy to follow the example of Red Bull in terms of purchasing technicians from other manufacturers in order to have expert and competent figures ready to put at the service of Audi the sophisticated know-how at the base of the turbo-hybrid engines that equip the F1 cars. The main problem is of a logistical nature: “Between Milton Keynes and Brixworth (the seat of the Mercedes headquarters dedicated to engines ed) there are 30 miles – the words of the technical director of Audi Sport Stefan Dreyer reached by the header motorsport magazine – it is not so easy to convince Mercedes technicians to come and work in Neuburg”.
Audi’s goal is to hire more than 300 employees (currently 100 have been hired) to match the approximately 350 people already working at the Red Bull Powertrains Limited division: “We have to draw on external skills and expertise Dreyer added. to get to have 300-400 people working in Neuburg”. In addition to Mercedes, the possibilities for Audi to hire expert power unit technicians lead to Maranello (Ferrari), Viry-Chatillon (Alpine) and Sakura (Honda).
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