2016 Formula 1 World Champion Nico Rosberg has admitted to finding it a “little surprising” that Mercedes haven’t tried to poach staff from Red Bull, something many other teams have done.
Red Bull have lost a remarkable number of employees in recent months, with former head of aerodynamics Dan Fallows having been the first.
Aston Martin poached the British engineer to become their technical director, something which has played a part in their meteoric rise this year.
Red Bull engineers are currently priceless, given how dominant the Austrians are.
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As a result, the likes of Aston Martin and McLaren have offered Red Bull engineer’s huge amounts to tempt them away from Milton Keynes.
Rosberg revealed during the Spanish Grand Prix that Aston Martin “quadruped” Fallows’ salary, a tactic many teams are using to sign Red Bull’s talent.
“I’ve heard also that Dan Fallows has also been quadrupled in salary plus an equity stake in the team,” Rosberg claimed on Sky Sports F1.
“The teams are going for it to try and get the talent from Red Bull which is the normal way in F1.
“That’s what always happens.”
It was only in May that Red Bull announced the departure of long-term engineer Rob Marshall, who’s joining McLaren in January.
He’s joining McLaren as a new technical director, covering engineering and design.
Ferrari have also reportedly poached staff from Red Bull, making Rosberg wonder why Mercedes haven’t gotten involved.
The Silver Arrows did sign former Red Bull COO Jayne Poole; however, not until she was made redundant.
Rosberg believes it’s “strange” that the Germans haven’t been “more active” in the hiring department, given that having somebody from Red Bull would be “so valuable”.
“Mercedes – strange that they haven’t been a little bit more active there [in poaching talent],” said Rosberg.
“The knowledge that you also get around a set of regulations when you take someone from the best team is just so valuable. Perhaps that’s a little surprising.”
Despite this, the ex-Mercedes driver knows that the Brackley-based team do have their own “incredible talent, who will be looking over “beautiful pictures” of Sergio Perez’s aloft Red Bull from Monaco.
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“Then again, of course, they have incredible talent at Mercedes and now the pictures from Monaco help a lot because thanks to Sergio’s crash,” he recalled.
“There are beautiful pictures of the underbody of the car which they can now take from those pictures and create a whole CAD model and do a whole accurate design in the computer of what that car is actually doing.
“That makes it very easy to start to really understand and learn about that Red Bull car.”