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The war of words between Red Bull and Mercedes has begun before cars have even touched the circuit for pre-season testing. Red Bull Powertrains’ Ben Hodgkinson has taken first blood.
Mercedes are hoping to begin the season with an F1 car that is capable of taking them back up the pecking order to the perch they sat atop from the beginning of the turbo-hybrid era.
Red Bull are in a similar position following Lando Norris’ usurping of Max Verstappen in the drivers’ championship last year.
They aim to make their star driver a five-time world champion by the time the chequered flag falls at the end of the 2026 season.
For the Austrian constructor, the stakes might be a little bit higher.
The Dutchman became restless during Red Bull’s regression at the start of 2025, and anything short of a race-winning car may rehash his former frustrations.
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RBPT chief suggests that Mercedes’ engine rumours were a ploy to lure Max Verstappen away from Red Bull
During an interview with De Telegraaf following the launch of Red Bull’s 2026 Formula 1 challenger, Red Bull Powertrains director Ben Hodgkinson accused Mercedes of planting stories about their new power unit to lure Verstappen into their arms.
When asked about the basis of the rumours that have linked the Silver Arrows with developing a superior engine to their rivals, the RBPT said, “No one knows for sure.”
Hodgkinson then added, “I think the first stories that Mercedes had the best engine came from Mercedes itself. And that was exactly when they wanted to attract the best driver.”
The ‘best driver’ that Hodgkinson alludes to is, of course, Verstappen.
Links between Verstappen and Mercedes were rampant during the 2025 F1 season after it had emerged that the Dutchman could exercise a performance-related release clause in his Red Bull contract.
Hodgkinson went on to further elaborate on his accusation, saying, “You have to remember that Mercedes wasn’t performing very well at the time.
“So, politically speaking, it suited them to start that rumour that they had the best engine. I’ve been working in this world for so long, and I’ve learned that it’s better to ignore all that noise.”
- READ MORE: Red Bull’s ‘messaging’ about their 2026 F1 car is now changing and Max Verstappen will be delighted
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Ben Hodgkinson also fired back at Toto Wolff’s ‘Mount Everest’ claim about Red Bull’s engine development
During his interview with the Dutch publication, Hodgkinson was reminded of Toto Wolff’s past comments where he likened Red Bull’s first foray into in-house engine development to the difficult task of climbing Mount Everest.
The British engineer had some stern words for Wolff, responding to the comments with, “Yes, I read that too.
“It’s true that it’s a huge challenge to build something from scratch and then be competitive right away.
“But when we talk about Mount Everest, it has now been climbed almost 14,000 times by more than 7,000 different people. That means many have done it twice.
“He probably should have come up with a more difficult comparison if he really wanted to make it sound discouraging.”
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