{"id":871160,"date":"2026-08-28T07:04:11","date_gmt":"2026-08-28T07:04:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/871160\/"},"modified":"2026-08-28T07:04:11","modified_gmt":"2026-08-28T07:04:11","slug":"jonathan-wheatley-makes-surprise-f1-paddock-return-after-audi-exit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/871160\/","title":{"rendered":"Jonathan Wheatley makes surprise F1 paddock return after Audi exit"},"content":{"rendered":"

Former Audi<\/a> F1 team principal Jonathan Wheatley made a surprise return to the Formula 1 paddock at last weekend\u2019s Dutch Grand Prix.<\/p>\n

It comes amid growing expectations that he is to become Aston Martin\u2019s new team boss.<\/p>\n

Jonathan Wheatley returns to F1 paddock at Dutch Grand Prix<\/p>\n

Wheatley took his first senior management position with Audi (then Sauber) in 2025 following a lengthy spell as Red Bull\u2019s sporting director.<\/p>\n

He left his role following the Chinese Grand Prix in March, 48 hours after PlanetF1.com revealed<\/a> that he had been identified as the prime candidate in Aston Martin\u2019s search for a new long-term team principal.<\/p>\n

Wheatley has kept his distance from F1 in the months since his departure from Audi.<\/p>\n

However, the 59-year-old was spotted by photographers in the paddock at Zandvoort last weekend in what is believed to be his first paddock appearance since leaving his previous team.<\/p>\n

Go deeper: Jonathan Wheatley set to join Aston Martin after 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

Wheatley was caught entering the Alpine hospitality unit at the Dutch Grand Prix.<\/p>\n

PlanetF1.com understands that his Alpine appearance was merely to visit his friend and former Benetton\/Renault colleague Steve Nielsen, who returned to Enstone as managing director last year.<\/p>\n

Wheatley is still expected to succeed Adrian Newey as Aston Martin team principal in due course.<\/p>\n

PlanetF1.com reported in March that Newey had led the search for a new Aston Martin team boss following his own appointment to the role in November last year, with Wheatley emerging as the favourite to take the job.<\/p>\n

Newey replaced Andy Cowell ahead of the 2025 Qatar Grand Prix, taking his first F1 management role in the process.<\/p>\n

The legendary designer, who will turn 68 in December, told PlanetF1.com and other media outlets earlier this year that he has found the responsibilities of team boss distracting from his core responsibilities on the design and development side.<\/p>\n

Newey and Wheatley both left Red Bull in 2024 having played instrumental roles in the team\u2019s dominance with the likes of Sebastian Vettel and Max Verstappen.<\/p>\n

The Dutch Grand Prix, where Aston Martin\u2019s engine partner Honda introduced a significant upgrade, saw Newey make his fifth trackside appearance of the F1 2026 season.<\/p>\n

Having attended the season-opening Australian Grand Prix, Newey missed the following four races before returning in Monaco in early June.<\/p>\n

He has since attended the British and Hungarian grands prix, as well as being on the ground at Zandvoort.<\/p>\n

In an interview with Aston Martin\u2019s official website in June, Newey confirmed that a period of ill health had contributed to his spell on the sidelines.<\/p>\n

He said: \u201cI\u2019m OK now, but it\u2019s been a difficult period. As I said earlier, it never rains but it pours.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn truth, I was not 100 per cent last year. I had to balance health and work much more carefully.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe team handled it incredibly well. I kept a very good relationship with the engineers and I don\u2019t feel it caused too much of a blip.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s a testament to how adaptable and supportive everyone here is.\u201d<\/p>\n

Want to be the first to know exclusive information from the F1 paddock? Join our broadcast channel on WhatsApp<\/a> to get the scoop on the latest developments from our team of accredited journalists.<\/p>\n

You can also subscribe to the PlanetF1 YouTube channel<\/a> for exclusive features, hear from our paddock journalists with stories from the heart of Formula 1 and much more!<\/p>\n

Read next: Ferrari teases special Michael Schumacher livery for Italian Grand Prix<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Former Audi F1 team principal Jonathan Wheatley made a surprise return to the Formula 1 paddock at last…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":871161,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[573],"tags":[64,40856,63,817,813,816,818,7983,44,17165,85],"class_list":["post-871160","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-formula-1","tag-au","tag-audi","tag-australia","tag-f1","tag-formula-1","tag-formula1","tag-home-page","tag-jonathan-wheatley","tag-news","tag-popular","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/871160","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=871160"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/871160\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/871161"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=871160"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=871160"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=871160"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}