'Former Mercedes chief turned down Red Bull engine project'

According to F1-Insider.com, Red Bull Racing has certainly been interested in working with Andy Cowell, the former Mercedes engine boss. The British engineer is known as one of the founders of the great Mercedes success since the hybrid era of 2014. Cowell's arrival has been shelved, however, but it is possible that a collaboration could still happen in a few years' time.

Indeed, the German medium writes on its website: "At the top of Red Bull's wish list for the engine project (and later possibly the collaboration with Porsche) was ex-Mercedes engine boss Andy Cowell." However, the 52-year-old Briton has thanked Red Bull and announced that he is unavailable. Cowell is going into business for himself with a company that deals with environmentally conscious future technologies in the car industry.

For the team of Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez it is not a big disaster, as the engine regulations are frozen until 2025. After that, new engine rules will enter Formula 1. That would be a very good time to reopen talks with Cowell. How the former Mercedes chief feels about this is not entirely clear.

At Servus TV, Marko casually let it be known that talks had indeed been held with Cowell. "It is usual to talk to competent engineers of the competition, of course, to persuade them to join our ambitious project. We can even imagine building a new engine for the new regulations and offering it to other teams, even without an industry partner. But a partnership with a major manufacturer would of course be the ideal scenario", the Austrian consultant is referring to the talks with Porsche.

In August of last year Cowell also reportedly turned down an offer from Ferrari. The Italian racing team wanted to completely reorganise after a dramatic 2020. This has now been done, only without Cowell.