At an extraordinary press conference in Melbourne on the eve of the new campaign, Newey even admitted his drivers were worried about “permanent nerve damage” in their hands from the violent vibrations emanating from their car’s power unit.
Newey’s handling of that press conference, in which he threw the Honda Racing president Koji Watanabe, who was sitting alongside him, completely under the bus, is thought to have focused minds at Aston Martin, with an acceptance that Newey is not suited to being front of house.
He has never been a huge fan of dealing with the media anyway, but it is certainly madness to be paying the greatest designer in Formula One history £25m a year not to design the car, but instead to be dealing with hiring and firing and managing and talking to the media, none of which are Newey strong suits.
Audi power struggle
Although Wheatley has only been at the Hinwil-based team for 10 months, and it is a huge job, Telegraph Sport has heard rumours of tensions with Binotto, the head of the Audi F1 Project. So his departure could make sense. Wheatley is also said to have told people that his wife, who agreed to make the move with him, has not settled in Switzerland.
Audi declined to comment when contacted by Telegraph Sport.
Whether his arrival at Aston Martin, if it happens, will be the final piece of the jigsaw is anyone’s guess.
What about Christian Horner?
There remains a sense that Stroll wants or perhaps needs a chief executive of the calibre of Toto Wolff or Zak Brown to oversee the F1 project.
Christian Horner, of course, is available in the next few weeks, once his period of gardening leave ends following his dismissal by Red Bull last summer. He is known to want a F1 return. Indeed, in many respects, that move makes the most sense – Horner is an experienced and proven operator.
But it remains to be seen whether Newey would stand for that, given how it ended between them at Red Bull. Newey joined Aston Martin in September 2024, having walked out on Red Bull earlier that year at the height of the Horner sexting controversy of which he was subsequently cleared.