Red Bull offering "lottery number paycheques" to Mercedes staff - Wolff

Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff has praised the loyalty within the team after Red Bull's offer of "lottery number paycheques" in a bid to lure staff to its new powertrain venture.

A confirmed number of 15 staff has been announced to be making the move from High Performance Powertrains to Red Bull Powertrains as the Milton Keynes-based team builds its workforce ahead of taking on Honda's engines.

After Red Bull advisor Helmut Marko suggested Mercedes had offered "double-pay" to its employees in order to stave off interest in joining Red Bull, Wolff has retaliated by suggesting the big money is being offered by Christian Horner's team.

Asked how the team would plug the voids being left by departing members, Wolff said: "We are promoting from within and some of them are really exciting."

On the loyalty within the team, he added: "It's really good to see the really loyal ones who have been approached and are staying and it is an overwhelmingly larger number than the ones who have been lured away.

"Seeing that loyalty and integrity, in a way, confirms the values of this group.

"At the end of the day there were some really good people that were approached with lottery number paycheques and they haven't even thought about it twice.

"They stayed because they liked the environment, for what we stand for, and it's a good environment. We've proven it's a good environment to work and prosper, and that is something that makes me very proud of the organisation in Brixworth."

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