Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff will be concerned with the direction his Formula 1 team is heading in.
After years of dominating the sport with Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg winning world championships, the team are now simply hoping to finish on the podium again.
A report from the German outlet Auto Motor und Sport has been talking about the movement of key backroom staff around the paddock.
There’s an awful lot of focus on the driver market this year with so many contracts expiring, but every team is also looking to improve the personnel that support their stars in the cars.
McLaren made some big moves at the beginning of the year, but have already parted ways with one of their key signings.
Mercedes are still searching for George Russell’s new teammate and don’t appear to be close to announcing Lewis Hamilton’s replacement.
However, they also need to examine what’s going wrong with the car as they currently have two extremely talented drivers who are battling for minor points every week.
Adrian Newey appears to be the solution every team turns to in these situations, but Mercedes are worried about hiring the 65-year-old.
The internal conflict at Red Bull means he could be available and two teams on the grid would love to bring him in.
Right now, there’s less enthusiasm within the Brackley-based manufacturer.
READ MORE: Everything you need to know about Mercedes AMG F1 Team from team principal to lineage
Mercedes are worried about hiring Adrian Newey
It’s hard to understate just how impressive Adrian Newey’s Formula 1 career is.
Since arriving at March in 1989, Newey has gone on to help his teams win 12 Constructors’ Championships and 13 Drivers’ Championships.
Sebastian Vettel and Max Verstappen in particular have benefitted from his work at Red Bull but he could end up moving on sooner rather than later.
Aston Martin are very keen on Newey, and believe if they sign the man labelled a ‘genius’ by Damon Hill, then Max Verstappen might just follow him.
Then there’s Ferrari, the biggest team Newey has never worked for, and if they could secure his signature alongside the arrival of Lewis Hamilton, they would suddenly be the team to beat ahead of the new regulations coming in for 2026.
However, Mercedes are worried about the prospect of bringing in Newey despite the obvious upsides.
They’ve lost plenty of key personnel over recent years and need to find a way to start reversing that brain drain.
The pros outweigh the cons of signing Adrian Newey – opinion
The report from AMuS suggests that while Ferrari and Aston Martin are courting Newey, Mercedes have ‘not yet taken part in the hunt’ to sign the engineering ‘mastermind’.
They say that there is a fear that an icon like Newey could ‘cause too much unrest internally’.
However, there is another reason – apart from the obvious upsides engineering-wise – to put whatever Mercedes are worried about when it comes to hiring Newey to one side.
That’s because Wolff would love to hire Max Verstappen as Hamilton’s replacement for 2025.
Alongside Helmut Marko, Newey is one of Verstappen’s biggest allies at Red Bull.
He understands how important the 65-year-old has been to his success and Wolff may have to gamble on some unrest within his team to bring in his number one target.
The post Report: Mercedes worried about making bid for 12-time champion ‘genius’ over internal ‘unrest’ fears appeared first on F1 Oversteer.