Marko says Mercedes trying to delay Hodgkinson move
Mercedes is trying everything to delay Ben Hodgkinson s move to head up the new Red Bull engine program, according to Dr Helmut Marko.
Hodgkinson has been at Mercedes for two decades, but Red Bull has managed to poach him so that he can be Red Bull Powertrains first technical director.
However, reports suggest he may be on gardening leave until the very end of 2022 - or even longer. Mercedes is now trying everything it can legally to delay him starting work, Marko told f1-insider.com. But it won t take as long as they would like.
‘Hodgkinson tried to take Merc PU staff to Red Bull’
Date published:
April 25 2021
Ben Hodgkinson has been talking to his Mercedes colleagues, trying to persuade them to follow him to Red Bull, claim Corriere dello Sport.
With Formula 1 backing an early engine freeze, which runs from 2022 to the end of 2024, Red Bull created ‘Red Bull Powertrains’ to take over and run the Honda engines from next year onwards.
“We are delighted to welcome Ben to Red Bull Powertrains as Technical Director,” Horner said.
“He comes to this hugely exciting project as a proven race winner and as an innovator capable of leading a like-minded team of highly skilled engineers.”