New to Kayo? Join now and get your first month for just $1.<\/a><\/p>\nWHEATLEY \u2018COULDN\u2019T COMMIT\u2019 TO AUDI<\/p>\n
Audi drive Gabriel Bortoleto says former team principal Jonathan Wheatley could no longer commit to the team, with rumours still swirling he\u2019s destined to take the top job at Aston Martin.<\/p>\n
Wheatley left Audi at the end of last week following reports he had been approached by Aston Martin to take over as team principal for the struggling British team.<\/p>\n
His departure was reportedly precipitated by a management meeting last Friday, with the team resolving to nip the issue in the bud once it was clear Wheatley was considering the move just 11 months into his tenure.<\/p>\n
Speaking to reporters in Suzuka on Thursday, Bortoleto said Wheatley\u2019s surprise departure wasn\u2019t a surprise given the circumstances.<\/p>\n
\u201cTo be honest, no [it didn\u2019t surprise me], because I think inside the team we are very clear with this type of thing, so it\u2019s not something that got me as a surprise,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m not going to lie, it happened very quickly \u2014 he joined last year \u2014 but again, when you have personal things to put in place, that\u2019s the priority.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs he made public as well, he couldn\u2019t commit to the project because of personal issues, personal things.<\/p>\n
\u201cI didn\u2019t get into detail with him exactly what it is. It\u2019s his problem, whatever it is. I keep it like this.\u201d<\/p>\n
Bortoleto made his Formula 1 debut last year, with Wheatley his team principal for most of the season.<\/p>\n
The Brazilian paid credit to the influence of his former boss, who he thinks has left a positive legacy for Audi in its first official season in Formula 1.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe was a good team principal inside the team,\u201d he said. \u201cPeople liked him. He did a very good job structuring things here. He was good while he lasted.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe said very good things about me, so I\u2019m grateful for that. I spent good time with him as well when we were on track and I learned good things. It\u2019s still very early stages as well. It\u2019s the first race we\u2019re going to do that he\u2019s out.<\/p>\n
\u201cI hope the best for him and his future.\u201d<\/p>\n
PIT TALK PODCAST: Audi team principal Jonathan Wheatley leaves his job less than a year after moving to Hinwil. Is a switch to Aston Martin now on the cards? And we look ahead to this weekend\u2019s Japanese Grand Prix.<\/p>\n
ASTON MARTIN REFUSES TO ENGAGE ON MANAGEMENT RUMOURS<\/p>\n
Aston Martin is braced for a tough Japanese Grand Prix as engine works partner Honda continues to battle chronic unreliability, but it\u2019s added management uncertainty to the clouds hanging over the squad.<\/p>\n
Adrian Newey, who added team principal to his remit this year on top of his primary role of managing technical partner, is poised to step down from the top job, according to reports.<\/p>\n
Stepping down would allow him to focus on the car, with a permanent team principal taking over the running of the team day to day.<\/p>\n
Wheatley\u2019s split with Audi last week appeared to confirm those rumours, but he is believed to have not yet put pen to paper with Aston Martin.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s ensured the team is battling questions not just about its competitiveness but also about its management structure ahead of Honda\u2019s home race.<\/p>\n
Chief trackside officer Mike Krack, who has represented the team in media engagements since the end of the Australian Grand Prix, refused to engage with the question with reporters in Suzuka on Thursday.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are now here in Japan, we focus on the home race of our partner, we focus on this weekend,\u201d he said. \u201cWe have a lot of work ahead, so I think this is not a question for here.\u201d<\/p>\n
Lance Stroll, son of billionaire team owner Lawrence Stroll, gave little more away.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t know all the details about that, but I know Adrian\u2019s the team principal right now, I Know we have to improve the engine, we have to improve the car, and that\u2019s what everyone\u2019s focused on,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Verstappen linked to F1 move to Mercedes | 06:52<\/p>\n
OCON SLAMS \u2018KEYBOARD WARRIORS\u2019 AFTER DEATH THREATS<\/p>\n
Esteban Ocon has called for \u201cbig consequences\u201d for people who abuse sports stars online after receiving death threats following a crash with Franco Colapinto at the Chinese Grand prix.<\/p>\n
Ocon attempted to pass Colapinto down the inside of the tightening turn 2 just after half distance but made contact, with both spinning off the road.<\/p>\n
Colapinto was able to recover to finish 10th, scoring his first points since 2024, while Ocon finished a penalised 14th.<\/p>\n
Despite being pinged by the stewards and accepting responsibility for the crash, Ocon\u2019s ordeal wasn\u2019t over, with the Frenchman\u2019s social media accounts inundated by abusive messages, including death threats.<\/p>\n
The vitriol was sufficiently toxic to warrant an intervention from FIA president Mohammed Ben Sulayem, who urged \u201cthe fans to treat everyone with respect\u201d and promised to strengthen online safeguards.<\/p>\n
Ocon said he wanted to see tough consequences for online abuse.<\/p>\n
\u201cFor sure any kind of abuse online that we saw should not be tolerated at all and should have big consequences,\u201d he said. \u201cIt should not have any place in our sport or in sport in general.<\/p>\n
\u201cKeyboard warriors \u2014 that\u2019s how they are. I think in the future it\u2019s going to become more of a thing, and there probably will be more consequences for these people.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ocon said he had mentally switched off from the worst of the hate mail and said his relationship with Colapinto remained strong.<\/p>\n
\u201cTo be honest, I didn\u2019t pay too much attention to it, but I\u2019ve seen what\u2019s going on online,\u201d he said. \u201cThe important thing for me was really to speak with Franco directly to really tell him what I thought and that I was sorry about the incident, because it was my fault on that one.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe had a good chat \u2014 everything was okay between us of course \u2014 and I\u2019m glad that he had a good race nevertheless and he still managed to score points, which was good.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ocon isn\u2019t he only driver to have received death threats recently, with Jack Doohan having had his life threatened during his brief stint at Alpine early last year before being replaced by Colapinto.<\/p>\n
The Australian had his security beefed up by Formula 1 as a response.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A damp and cool Suzuka is welcoming Formula 1 for its final grand prix in a month, but…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":564908,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[573],"tags":[2074,2620,1724,64,63,242633,265937,512,278133,55893,9239,22304,817,278134,813,816,1802,235325,841,248809,84708,2045,941,278135,7983,54646,2496,278140,278142,825,278138,39542,10952,278139,232373,2119,668,278137,4933,278143,85,278131,278141,278132,73217,278136,13773,278144,2038],"class_list":["post-564907","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-formula-1","tag-adrian-newey","tag-agence-france-presse","tag-asia","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-billionaire-team-owner","tag-chief-trackside-officer","tag-china","tag-clouds-hanging","tag-death-threats","tag-eastern-asia","tag-esteban-ocon","tag-f1","tag-final-grand-prix","tag-formula-1","tag-formula1","tag-franco-colapinto","tag-french-driver","tag-grand-prix","tag-hate-mail","tag-home-race","tag-jack-doohan","tag-japan","tag-job-structuring-things","tag-jonathan-wheatley","tag-keyboard-warriors","tag-lawrence-stroll","tag-management-structure","tag-management-uncertainty","tag-max-verstappen","tag-media-engagements","tag-mike-krack","tag-mohammed-ben-sulayem","tag-permanent-team","tag-personal-things","tag-pit-talk","tag-press-conference","tag-receiving-death","tag-shanghai","tag-social-media-challenges","tag-sports","tag-sports-stars","tag-star-rails","tag-struggling-british-team","tag-suzuka","tag-team-day","tag-team-principal","tag-team-resolving","tag-top-job"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/564907","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=564907"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/564907\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/564908"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=564907"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=564907"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=564907"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/poster-fallback.png\"\/)
<\/p>\n