Red Bull have announced further appointments from Mercedes to their new engine programme as the team continue to ramp up their plans for 2022 and beyond.
As they prepare to take over the running of Honda's engines at the end of this season at their under-construction Red Bull Powertrains division at their Milton Keynes base, Red Bull already announced two weeks ago that long-time Mercedes engine man Ben Hodgkinson will be the unit's new technical director.
Five further key hires from the class-leading Mercedes AMG High Performance Powertrains in nearby Brixworth have been announced, while the team also said that a new head of mechanical development would be named in the forthcoming weeks.
"Red Bull's mission to bring all aspects of its Formula 1 operations in-house through Red Bull Powertrains is an enormously exciting undertaking but also an extremely demanding one, and we know that success will only be achieved by bringing in the best and brightest talent, by providing them with the right tools and by creating the right environment in which they can thrive," said Red Bull team principal Christian Horner.
"Today's key leadership team appointments demonstrate our strong commitment to those goals and we certainly benefit from our campus being located in the UK where we have access to a huge wealth of engineering talent. Working with our new Technical Director, Ben Hodgkinson, and alongside key personnel retained from Honda Racing Development, each of the senior personnel announced today bring a wealth of experience, expertise and innovativity to the Red Bull Powertrains programme and provide us with the strongest possible technical platform for the future."
Speaking to Sky Sports F1 at last weekend's Portuguese GP in the wake of the news of Hodgkinson's departure, Mercedes boss Toto Wolff had admitted: "I think there will be maybe a few others that will join this exciting journey."
Red Bull's new hires
Power unit production director - Steve Blewett
Head of powertrains Electronics and ERS - Omid Mostaghimi
Head of mechanical design ERS - Pip Clode
Head of power unit design ICE - Anton Mayo
Group leader ICE operations - Steve Brodie