Red Bull "delighted" to poach Mercedes engine talent - Horner

Red Bull team principal Christian Horner has revelled in delight over the signing of Ben Hodgkinson from F1 rival Mercedes.

Hodgkinson was appointed as technical director for the new powertrain department at the Milton Keynes-based team after leaving his head of engineering role at the world championship-winning constructor.

Horner praised Mercedes for its development of powertrains in F1 and believes the signing of one of its top engineers will stand Red Bull in good stead for the future.

"Mercedes has done such a wonderful job, not just the six or seven years with the Hybrid era but before that with the V8," Horner told Sky Sports.

"Of course, you do your due diligence and look around at what the talent is. We have so much of that based in the UK.

"Ben's name absolutely came to the fore and he was an obvious candidate for us. I was delighted when he agreed to join the team for this exciting new chapter in Red Bull's history in Formula 1."

Former Mercedes High Performance Powertrains managing director Andy Cowell has been linked with a role at Red Bull since it was announced the team would take on its own engine programme in light of Honda's withdrawal from the sport at the end of the current season.

In response to the rumour, Horner added: "Andy is a tremendously talented engineer and everything he has achieved in Formula 1 speaks for itself.

"Andy is keen to pursue other activities and ventures so that is his priority in this point in time. We are attracting some great talent and looking forward to making some announcements in due course as we build this venture."

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