an offer to take up the team principal role at Aston Martin<\/a>, where Adrian Newey is reportedly set to stand down from the position to focus on his job as managing technical partner with control over the design office.<\/p>\nAston Martin, however, has responded with a public statement from team owner Lawrence Stroll deflecting responsibility for Wheatley stepping down.<\/p>\n
\u201cWith the current speculation surrounding Adrian Newey\u2019s role in our team, I want to take this opportunity to set the record straight,\u201d Stroll said.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs executive chairman and controlling shareholder, I would like to reaffirm that Adrian Newey is my partner and an important shareholder. He is AMR\u2019s managing technical partner, and he and I have a true partnership built on a shared vision of success for the company.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe do things differently here, and while we don\u2019t currently adopt the traditional team principal role that you see elsewhere \u2014 it is by design.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs the most successful engineer in the history of the sport, Adrian\u2019s primary focus is on the strategic and technical leadership where he excels. He is supported by a highly skilled senior leadership team to deliver on all aspects of the business, both at the campus and trackside.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are regularly approached by senior executives of other teams who wish to join Aston Martin, but in keeping with our policy, we do not comment on rumour and speculation.\u201d<\/p>\n
Though dressed up as a denial that Wheatley is set to take the reins, it also clearly leaves plenty of wriggle room for that to be the case eventually.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s just a matter of timing.<\/p>\n
‘Sport at it’s best’ Skaife on feud | 06:00<\/p>\n
WHAT DOES THIS MEAN FOR AUDI?<\/p>\n
Audi had only one card to play once it became clear that Wheatley was contemplating offers from elsewhere, immediately announcing his departure from the team.<\/p>\n
You can\u2019t force someone to continue working for you when their heart\u2019s not in it. Nor is it worth keeping him in place with speculation following him perhaps into this weekend\u2019s Japanese Grand Prix.<\/p>\n
There\u2019s also the more philosophical question of requiring a team boss with total buy-in, not one whose head can be turned by a rival.<\/p>\n
Nipping it in the bud means it\u2019s now Aston Martin\u2019s problem \u2014 and with most reports to the effect that Wheatley is yet to sign for the Silverstone team, the ball is now in Stroll\u2019s court to try to control the narrative, as he attempted to do with his forceful but ultimately inconclusive statement.<\/p>\n
Of course that still leaves Audi down a team principal during its critical formative races as a works manufacturer \u2014 and it\u2019s not just that it\u2019s missing a key member of staff; it\u2019s missing arguably exactly the right sort of person for the job.<\/p>\n
Audi already has Mattia Binotto for the big-picture strategic thinking. Binotto joined the project in 2024 after around 18 months out of the sport following his resignation from the top job at Ferrari, and his principal task was to organise what up until then had been a big-bucks but rudderless entity into something resembling a works outfit.<\/p>\n
Wheatley, though, was the inspired hire as the person who could sharpen the race team into a competitive force.<\/p>\n
The former Red Bull Racing sporting director was a key pillar in Milton Keynes\u2019s considerable success over the last two decades. He understands intimately what it takes for a team to make it in Formula 1.<\/p>\n
As just one anecdotal example, consider how much slicker Sauber \u2014 previously a lifer at the back of the midfield \u2014 became in pit lane, whether literally with its pit stops or with its trackside operations. Wheatley was credited for those gains, which now belong to Audi.<\/p>\n
That organisational discipline at the race team has also played a role in how credible Audi has looked this season relative to expectations after years of it floundering during its meandering takeover of the Sauber team.<\/p>\n
That guiding force is lost to the team now, with Binotto running the show in an interim capacity.<\/p>\n
Alonso retires with vibration issues | 00:23<\/p>\n
WHO WILL REPLACE HIM?<\/p>\n
Pinching team bosses is rare in Formula 1. Much more often they\u2019re pushed \u2014 or they \u2018resign\u2019 \u2014 after a string of poor results.<\/p>\n
The suddenness of this example \u2014 and the lack of tension inside Audi that might have had the team preparing a succession plan \u2014 means there\u2019s no obvious replacement for Wheatley ready to go. If there were, the team might have announced one alongside its former man\u2019s exit.<\/p>\n
Audi will want someone in the role as soon as possible, but that complicates matters.<\/p>\n
Wheatley was lined up as its inaugural team principal more than a year ago. Not only did that mean he could manage the team\u2019s transition from Sauber to Audi, but it also ensured his gardening leave after leaving Red Bull Racing was fully acquitted.<\/p>\n
Any other hire of a similar calibre from another team will surely have to be sidelined for many months before they can take over at Audi \u2014 just as Wheatley will surely have to do likewise if he\u2019s to join Aston Martin.<\/p>\n
Promoting internally would solve that problem, but it would require the team taking a punt on someone with unproven capacity for the position. That doesn\u2019t preclude them from pulling it off, but it won\u2019t be the same as someone arriving from a title-winning team with a clear process ready to be applied.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s before confronting some of the other questions arising from Wheatley\u2019s departure.<\/p>\n
The former Sauber team has historically had difficulty attracting high-profile staff to its base in Hinwil, outside Zurich, in Switzerland.<\/p>\n
Reports suggest Wheatley\u2019s desire to return to England played a role in him entertaining rival offers.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s one of only three teams not based in the UK. Meanwhile, seven of the eight British-based teams exist in the so-called motorsport valley, a tiny 1264-square-kilometre parcel of land northeast of London. The furthest drive between any two of them is just 80 kilometres. Switching between these teams is as easy as programming a new work address into your car.<\/p>\n
Hinwil, however, with its high cost of living \u2014 even if the wages are commensurately high \u2014 is a harder sell. And in a country of less than 10 million people and without the mechanical engineering traditional of, say, Italy \u2014 where Racing Bulls and Ferrari are based \u2014 Sauber needs to draw people from elsewhere.<\/p>\n
Audi could become a pull factor in time, but for now, with the works operation still to prove itself and with the team boss walking out after 11 months, it\u2019s a tougher proposition.<\/p>\n
Antonelli claims Chinese GP | 02:23<\/p>\n
F1\u2019S CHANGING STRUCTURE<\/p>\n
Even if Wheatley ultimately succumbed to the go-home factor, it\u2019s still remarkable that he would do so less than a year into the job.<\/p>\n
It asks potentially uncomfortable questions about whether the constraints of his role in the Audi structure and beneath Binotto \u2014 even if there have been no indications of tensions \u2014 are too significant for someone who has long coveted the top job.<\/p>\n
But it also speaks to the changing nature of the team principal role in Formula 1.<\/p>\n
Long gone are the days of the owner-operators; only Toto Wolff, a part-owner of Mercedes, can claim the role.<\/p>\n
Christian Horner had been in a similar position as team principal and CEO at Red Bull Racing prior to the death of Red Bull founder Dietrich Mateschtiz, when he had free rein, but he was subsequently sacked after management changes in large part because he had amassed too much power.<\/p>\n
The Williams family was perhaps the modern epitome of that idea until it sold the team during the pandemic in financial distress.<\/p>\n
Instead we\u2019re in the era of the technical team boss \u2014 an engineer by trade paired with an overarching CEO.<\/p>\n
Think Andrea Stella at McLaren, who can run the race team knowing Zak Brown is running the business.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s essentially the same set-up Audi has, although Mattia Binotto is also clearly something of a technical CEO given his hands-on F1 experience. Perhaps there wasn\u2019t enough room for Wheatley for fulfil his potential there.<\/p>\n
Wheatley had long been said to have coveted Horner\u2019s job at Red Bull Racing, which precipitated his move to Audi. Perhaps the position not having full control played a role in him leaving.<\/p>\n
Could he thrive at Aston Martin, where he\u2019ll answer to both Newey, a technical shareholder, and Stroll, the team owner who clearly doesn\u2019t want a background role in the operation?<\/p>\n
And will that hinder the team\u2019s ability to find an effective replacement?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Audi team principal Jonathan Wheatley abandoning his post at the weekend exposes a potentially serious weakness in the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":558084,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[573],"tags":[2074,12295,13273,1724,64,63,18503,275452,275445,275433,268803,275436,512,264166,1199,268809,275449,2075,9239,1208,2057,51873,817,845,275451,813,816,272793,275443,2093,275437,275446,216729,2328,7983,275434,2022,275442,228929,74607,3583,84599,275439,252383,25586,275444,275447,84244,275448,235897,275440,4933,275438,275441,223973,3595,85,45710,6221,2087,41547,13773,275450,239780,2038,107095,3586,272715,2062,819,220228,275435,264171,16198,146652,130410],"class_list":["post-558083","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-formula-1","tag-adrian-newey","tag-andrea-kimi-antonelli","tag-andrea-stella","tag-asia","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-australian-driver","tag-background-role","tag-british-engineer","tag-bud-means","tag-car-vibrations","tag-chief-operating","tag-china","tag-chinese-grand","tag-christian-horner","tag-claims-chinese","tag-clear-process-ready","tag-design-office","tag-eastern-asia","tag-england","tag-europe","tag-executive-chairman","tag-f1","tag-fernando-alonso","tag-fledgling-team","tag-formula-1","tag-formula1","tag-gardening-leave","tag-german-giant","tag-german-marque","tag-go-home-factor","tag-inaugural-team-principal","tag-interim-capacity","tag-italy","tag-jonathan-wheatley","tag-key-pillar","tag-london","tag-management-changes","tag-managing-technical-partner","tag-mattia-binotto","tag-northern-europe","tag-pannel-chat","tag-perfunctory-statement-thanking","tag-permanent-replacement","tag-pit-lane","tag-principal-task","tag-pull-factor","tag-race-team","tag-season-relative","tag-senior-executives","tag-senior-leadership-team","tag-shanghai","tag-shock-boss-loss","tag-skilled-senior-leadership","tag-so-called-motorsport-valley","tag-southern-europe","tag-sports","tag-succession-plan","tag-switzerland","tag-team-bosses","tag-team-owner","tag-team-principal","tag-team-principal-loss","tag-team-principal-role","tag-top-job","tag-trackside-operations","tag-united-kingdom","tag-walkinshaw-amp-whincup","tag-western-europe","tag-williams","tag-works-manufacturer","tag-works-operation","tag-works-outfit","tag-works-team","tag-worth-keeping","tag-wriggle-room"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/558083","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=558083"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/558083\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/558084"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=558083"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=558083"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=558083"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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