Christian Horner Claims Recruiting Lewis Hamilton\’s Race Engineer Phil Prew At Red Bull Is A Statement Of Intent!

Red Bull recently recruited Mercedes\’ former racing engineer Phil Prew as they hope to manufacture their own engine by the 2026 F1 season. The Austrian outfit has shown some great performance over the last couple of seasons. They clinched the driver\’s championship last year and are currently leading both the championships in the 2022 season. 

Red Bull has a 97-point lead in the constructors\’ rankings, while Max Verstappen is leading the drivers\’ championship with 358 points, eight wins, and four podiums. The Milton Keynes outfit hopes to continue their dominating performance in the future and has taken a major step by bringing Phil Prew in. Recently, Red Bull team principal Christian Horner talked about Prew\’s addition to the team and remarked the move as a statement of intent.

Prew worked under Red Bull\’s chief technician Andrian Newey before starting his race engineer\’s career with McLaren. During his run with McLaren, Prew worked with David Coulthard, Juan Pablo Montaya, and Lewis Hamilton. He also served as Hamilton\’s race engineer and helped him win his first F1 world title in 2009 with McLaren. The British engineer rejoined Hamilton at Mercedes in 2016 and had been with the German outfit until his recent exit. 

Meanwhile, Red Bull has brought in Phil Prew to work on their goal of producing their own power unit by 2026. The Austrian outfit will continue to outsource power units from Honda until 2025. After 2025, Red Bull will become a manufacturer outfit again and is likely to supply their power units to Porsche for the 2026 season.

Horner Happy About Bringing Phenomenal Talent To Red Bull

The Red Bull boss shared that he was delighted about Prew\’s addition to the team due to his phenomenal track record. Horner felt Phil had been a key component to Mercedes\’ success in recent times. And the recruitment is another state of the intent about where Red bull wants to be with their power unit.

The former British driver further shared that his team had assembled great strength and depth within the business. Hence, it would be extremely thrilling for Red Bull to witness everything coming to life. Christian Horner revealed that he had consulted Adrian before recruiting Phil as the two had known each other for a long time. He added, \”Phil is one of the key signings recently that add to the very talented group of people that we already have assembled.\”

Horner believes that things have been really shaping for Red Bull. The team\’s Milton Keynes factory has developed from being a few units on an industrial estate to being a technology campus due to significant investments. Horner concluded, \”The first engine is due to fire up shortly. It\’s been a steep learning curve, but we have recruited some phenomenal talent.\”