Mercedes Formula 1 team principal Toto Wolff offers his opinion on Red Bull trying to poach his engineers saying it is "normal." With Red Bull set to officially launch the Red Bull Powertrains in 2022, the Milton Keynes-based outfit has been trying to openly entice engineers from the Mercedes squad. Wolff however seems unconcerned by this development. "I think it's, it's pretty obvious, if you want to set up an engine factory in the UK, there's only one and that's us," Wolff told Sky Sports. "We have 900 or so employees and if you're fishing out 15 of these that's pretty normal. But they weren't many of the manufacturing stuff, so it's not really performance, I guess they want to build up the the company. "But credit to the project is a Mount Everest to climb. And I'd like to have a fight with Red Bull power units." Wolff also said that he did offer to double staff salaries hinting that Red Bull may have offered even more to entice individuals to move from Brackley to Milton Keynes. "I think they approached 100 people or so and they got 15 maybe," Wolff explained. "Doubling the salaries is one thing, but if you tripple them at a certain stage, you're not going to compete anymore, even for loyal people. "I respect everybody that wants to defend his business or build their business and retaliation time has not yet come." Wolff will certainly enjoy the fact that Mercedes topped both free practice sessions in Barcelona while Red Bull apparently struggled. That being said, qualifying is when the teams have to showcase their full potential for the first time and the results may swing in the other direction come Saturday.
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