Ex Mercedes ‘Lynchpin’ Unlikely to Join Red Bull F1 Claims Horner

Red Bull will be looking to push Mercedes for the Constructor’s Championship in 2021.  They are looking to bring in new personnel for their engine division. However, team boss Christian Horner has denied ex-Mercedes engine guru Andy Cowell will join the team. 

The Austrian team has made changes in their driver lineup by bringing in Sergio Perez as their secondary driver to help them attain this goal. They have lacked consistent performances from their second driver to give an appropriate challenge to Mercedes.

After the engine freeze proposal was accepted by F1 from 2022 onwards, Red Bull on February had announced that they have taken over Honda’s engine IP. They have created a company called Red Bull Powertrains to do that.

Red Bull need personnel but Cowell won’t join says Horner

Christian Horner, in an interview, confirmed that Andy Cowell will not join them. He said, “What he’s achieved obviously in the recent 10 years of the sport has been mightily impressive. He was obviously a lynchpin of what Mercedes and HPP have delivered.”

“I think he’s obviously chosen to pursue, I think, other activities outside of Formula 1. But of course, as far as engines are concerned, he’s been the guy that has delivered year on year. But my understanding is that his interests currently lay outside of Formula 1.”

He confirmed they were looking for more personal in the engine division. He said, “Obviously we will inherit the vast majority of HRD UK, which is the operational side of Honda, based in Milton Keynes. So that gives us a standing start, in that already all the people we already know and interface with, we’ll look to take under the new company.”

“Then we are in the process of setting out some of the other roles that will be filled in the next coming weeks and months. But I think the agreement we’ve achieved with Honda just buys us time to assemble the right group of people.”

Austrian team’s prospects for 2021

Red Bull have been troubled over the last two years with their second driver. They’ve no gotten the requisite contributions from them. This has made the Milton Keynes outfit rank outsiders in challenging Mercedes in that respect.

Perez’s signing is an interesting one because they are getting a ready-made experienced driver in their stable. This gives them a chance at more race wins and podiums when Max Verstappen doesn’t do that well.

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