Jonathan Wheatley declared prior to his Audi F1 exit that no engine manufacturer \u201cwants to lose a month\u201d of development under the FIA\u2019s ADUO scheme in F1 2026.<\/p>\n
It came after the former team principal revealed that Audi\u2019s power unit has become an \u201carea of focus\u201d following a \u201clong conversation\u201d with Mattia Binotto.<\/p>\n
Jonathan Wheatley: Driveability a weakness of Audi F1 2026 engine<\/p>\n
Want more PlanetF1.com coverage? Add us as a preferred source on Google<\/a> to your favourites list for news you can trust<\/p>\n Audi announced the departure of Wheatley last Friday after less than a year in charge of the Swiss-based team.<\/p>\n It came within 48 hours of PlanetF1.com revealing the news<\/a> that Wheatley had emerged as Adrian Newey\u2019s prime candidate in the search for a new Aston Martin team principal.<\/p>\n Wheatley\u2019s exit came just five days after he oversaw his final race in charge of Audi at the Chinese Grand Prix.<\/p>\n Go deeper: Jonathan Wheatley\u2019s Audi F1 exit<\/p>\n Why Jonathan Wheatley walked away from Audi and where he could land next<\/a><\/p>\n Who is Jonathan Wheatley? Adrian Newey\u2019s primary Aston Martin target<\/a><\/p>\n Audi has enjoyed a respectable start to its debut season in F1 2026, scoring two points with Gabriel Bortoleto\u2019s ninth-place finish in Australia.<\/p>\n However, the team has suffered reliability issues with Bortoleto and teammate Nico Hulkenberg failing to take the start in Shanghai and Melbourne respectively.<\/p>\n As reported by PlanetF1.com on Monday<\/a>, Wheatley revealed after the Chinese Grand Prix that Audi sees its power unit as an \u201carea of focus\u201d following a \u201clong conversation\u201d with Binotto, the head of the Audi F1 project who has now assumed the responsibilities of team principal.<\/p>\n Wheatley went on to admit that driveability issues hampered Hulkenberg in wheel-to-wheel battle in Shanghai, potentially as a result of the engine\u2019s deployment.<\/p>\n The FIA launched its ADUO (Assisted Development and Upgrade Opportunities) scheme last year, with the safety net intended to help struggling engine manufacturers catch up under the new F1 2026 rules.<\/p>\n A decision on the first manufacturers to qualify for ADUO will be made after the sixth race of the season, which had originally been expected to take place in Miami in early May.<\/p>\n Following the cancellations of the Bahrain and Saudi Arabian grands prix, however, Monaco will now host the sixth race of 2026 on June 7.<\/p>\n PlanetF1.com revealed last week that discussions are underway about whether to keep the original May checkpoint<\/a> for the first ADUO qualifiers.<\/p>\n Asked if Audi is likely to meet the criteria for ADUO, Wheatley said that no manufacturer \u201cwants to lose a month\u201d as a result of the Bahrain and Saudi Arabia cancellations.<\/p>\n He told media in Shanghai: \u201cI\u2019m sure you\u2019re aware that it was supposed to be measured in six-race batches.<\/p>\n \u201cBut because of the really unfortunate situation in the Middle East at the moment, we\u2019re not racing there now [and] I don\u2019t think anyone probably wants to lose a month.\u201d<\/p>\n As well as Bortoleto, McLaren suffered a rare double DNS with Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri in China, with Williams driver Alex Albon also failing to make the start of the race.<\/p>\n Asked if he agrees with the McLaren drivers that the F1 2026 regulations are proving too complicated, Wheatley pointed to the widespread complaints following F1\u2019s move to V6-hybrid engines in 2014.<\/p>\n And he suggested that the upcoming five-week gap between the Japanese and Miami grands prix will help manufacturers address teething troubles with the 2026 cars.<\/p>\n He said: \u201cIt\u2019s interesting, isn\u2019t it, that they\u2019re experiencing issues? All of us have experienced our own issues with that.<\/p>\n \u201cToo technical, too complicated? I don\u2019t know. It\u2019s ambitious. It\u2019s an ambitious set of technical regulations.<\/p>\n \u201cIt does remind me very much of early 2014. People were struggling with that, some teams in particular were struggling with that.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m trying to keep my eye on the future. I\u2019m an eternally positive person and I think we\u2019ll get on top of these issues.<\/p>\n \u201cAnd you never know, perhaps this gap in April will allow a lot of people to get on top of that.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s been a very short winter and a very intense few months this year.\u201d<\/p>\n Explaining Hulkenberg\u2019s driveability problem on race day in China, Wheatley remarked that the issue repeatedly compromised the Audi R26 in racing situations at the Turn 6 hairpin, one of the slowest parts of the lap.<\/p>\n He said: \u201cI think it\u2019s a track that exposed our weaknesses in many areas.<\/p>\n \u201cOne of the things that was interesting here is that in racing situations, how key driveability is.<\/p>\n \u201cIt remains a challenge of us to get on top of these driveability issues, because basically Nico had a couple of situations, at I think Turn 6, where it was hard to recover from them because you\u2019ve got to get the engine back in its operating window.\u201d<\/p>\n Asked if Audi\u2019s poor driveability is related to engine deployment, Wheatley pointed to Binotto\u2019s deeper engine expertise.<\/p>\n He replied: \u201cYou\u2019re getting very close to Mattia-type questions and not Jonathan-type questions!<\/p>\n \u201cBut look, basically, it\u2019s the response of the PU in those situations when you have to react rather than act, I suppose.\u201d<\/p>\n Want to be the first to know exclusive information from the F1 paddock? 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