{"id":549708,"date":"2026-03-20T20:19:08","date_gmt":"2026-03-20T20:19:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/549708\/"},"modified":"2026-03-20T20:19:08","modified_gmt":"2026-03-20T20:19:08","slug":"f1-changes-faster-than-wax-melts-plus-wheatley-out-at-audi-after-wild-24-hours","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/549708\/","title":{"rendered":"F1 changes faster than wax melts. Plus: Wheatley out at Audi after wild 24 hours"},"content":{"rendered":"

Prime Tire Newsletter | This is The Athletic\u2019s F1 newsletter. Sign up here<\/a> to receive Prime Tire directly in your inbox twice a week during the season and weekly in the offseason.<\/p>\n

Welcome back to Prime Tire, where today it\u2019s time to take stock of this season\u2019s Formula 1 during the brief pause between Rounds 2 and 3. That\u2019s of a new 22-round season, following\u00a0the cancellation<\/a>\u00a0of the Bahrain and Saudi Arabian events for this year.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m Alex, and Luke Smith will be along later.<\/p>\n

Fast-Moving F1: McLaren scrambling to save its season<\/p>\n

Yes, already.<\/p>\n

Above is Lando Norris helping pick out the eyes for his wax sculpture, which will go on display at the Madame Tussauds exhibition in London to honor the Briton\u2019s 2025 F1 world title.<\/p>\n

It reminded me of something important in the F1 world, and it\u2019s not good news for McLaren.<\/p>\n

Tourists can see Norris immortalized in wax starting this summer,\u00a0by which point his F1 title defense may already be over, given how McLaren has started this year\u00a0\u2026 and how its engine supplier, Mercedes, currently leads the way.<\/p>\n

The orange team was F1\u2019s dominator last year. Now, it\u2019s the Silver Arrows squad.<\/p>\n

With Kimi Antonelli\u2019s victory in the Chinese Grand Prix, ahead of George Russell, Mercedes not only registered a second\u00a01-2 GP result in a week<\/a>\u00a0\u2014\u00a0after Russell\u2019s\u00a0win in Australia<\/a>\u00a0\u2014 it also pulled 80 points away from McLaren in the 2026 constructors\u2019 standings.<\/p>\n

In 2024, that championship was settled by 14 points, when McLaren beat Ferrari.
\nIn 2025, Norris beat Red Bull\u2019s Max Verstappen by just two points.<\/p>\n

Three reasons so far stand out to me to explain McLaren\u2019s massive gap to Mercedes.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Two go down to misfortune:\u00a0Oscar Piastri crashing<\/a>\u00a0on the reconnoitering laps ahead of the Australian GP, and Norris then being unable to start the main race in Shanghai due to engine\u00a0electrical systems issues<\/a>. (Piastri is still yet to complete a GP racing lap in 2026.)<\/p>\n

The other reason is actually more problematic for McLaren: that it has started 2026 firmly as F1\u2019s third-fastest team at the start of this new car design rules era.<\/p>\n

Ferrari is chasing Mercedes most closely, while Red Bull seems to have handling and engine issues with which to grapple.<\/p>\n

If that pattern continues for the season\u2019s next phase, there is no logical reason to expect a McLaren driver to do any better than fifth place at best, with the Mercedes and Ferrari drivers locking up the higher positions.<\/p>\n

And that is no way to win, either.<\/p>\n

If anything, McLaren\u2019s fall has highlighted that what Mercedes achieved in 2017 and Red Bull in 2022 \u2014 staying atop the standings while traversing a car design rules change \u2014 is the exception in F1, not the rule.<\/p>\n

In the previous four such instances, Red Bull was toppled by Mercedes in 2014. Brawn GP (which became Mercedes) and then Red Bull replaced the McLaren and Ferrari stranglehold on F1 success from 2009. Renault ended Ferrari\u2019s era of dominance so far this century, in 2005. And McLaren did likewise to Williams in 1998.<\/p>\n

But McLaren team principal Andrea Stella had insisted post-sprint race in China that its\u00a0MCL40 car<\/a>\u00a0is \u201ca solid platform.\u201d<\/p>\n

He added: \u201cThere\u2019s nothing in the car that is not sound conceptually, it just needs to be developed further.\u201d<\/p>\n

This is positive. It implies McLaren has not got its aerodynamic concept wrong, as it did in 2022 and 2023.<\/p>\n

Once it\u2019d fully reversed this in F1\u2019s previous car design rules era, via a series of impressive upgrade packages that culminated in the\u00a02024 Miami GP Norris won<\/a>, McLaren was the championship\u2019s leading team.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe journey for this car will be more about accelerating the development along principles that we think are sound,\u201d Stella said. \u201c(The car is) still a little too below the line of development of where Ferrari and Mercedes seem to be.\u201d<\/p>\n

As a result of all that, which is typical Stella candidness, I have confidence that McLaren can refine its package \u2014 especially once it fully understands how best to utilize the Mercedes engine.<\/p>\n

It should at the very least compete for wins before the 2026 season is out.\u00a0Stella just runs too good of a ship, and Norris and Piastri still form a formidable lineup.<\/p>\n

But it shows just why the title fight between them last year mattered so much. It may be the only one they ever get to properly contest. And, even if McLaren does catch Mercedes before the year is out, then another McLaren title tilt may now have to wait for 2027.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s how fast F1 moves. Much faster than\u00a0wax melts<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Now, over to Luke to continue the feelgoodness that surrounds F1 after\u00a0Antonelli\u2019s win in China<\/a>\u00a0last weekend.<\/p>\n

Inside the Paddock with Luke Smith: Winning won\u2019t change Antonelli<\/p>\n

\u201cKimi, this is Luke. He\u2019s going to look after you when you get to F1.\u201d<\/p>\n

I looked up at Roberto Chinchero, an Italian colleague and legend of motorsport media, then down to the teenager he was introducing.<\/p>\n

Under a tousle of brown hair, at least half a foot shorter than Roberto and wearing a tuxedo, 16-year-old Kimi Antonelli said \u201chello\u201d and shook my hand.<\/p>\n

This was my first meeting with Antonelli \u2014 at the 2022 FIA prize giving event in Bologna. I told him I\u2019d heard a lot about him \u2014 meaning his success in go-karting. He\u2019d just ended the year as the dual Italian and German Formula 4 champion, stamping his status as a future star.<\/p>\n

What struck me in that first chat was Antonelli\u2019s politeness and good character. We chatted briefly before Roberto took Antonelli around the room to make more introductions, but I got a good feeling. This wasn\u2019t a young driver who thought he was \u201cit.\u201d He clearly felt grateful and excited to be in the room.<\/p>\n

Three-and-a-half years later, I had the same feeling\u00a0sitting in the news conference room<\/a>\u00a0last Sunday in Shanghai as Antonelli, now 19 and F1\u2019s newest grand prix winner, soaked in the moment. You could still feel the gratitude, and that much was clear from his tears in parc ferme.<\/p>\n

Despite such a rapid rise, Antonelli hasn\u2019t changed. He\u2019s still that good kid I met in Bologna. I don\u2019t expect becoming an F1 race winner will change him one bit.<\/p>\n

Back to you, Alex.<\/p>\n

Who\u2019s In Charge? Wheatley definitely out at Audi<\/p>\n

It\u2019s been a whirlwind 24 hours for Aston Martin and Audi fans.<\/p>\n

First,\u00a0this report<\/a>\u00a0said Jonathan Wheatley was being lined up to become Aston\u2019s team principal. Aston said Thursday that \u201cAdrian Newey continues to lead the team as team principal and managing technical partner.\u201d Audi, meanwhile, said it does \u201cnot comment on speculation.\u201d<\/p>\n

Then, this afternoon, Audi announced Wheatley left the team\u00a0\u2014 which\u00a0he joined as team principal only in April of last year \u2014 for \u201cpersonal reasons.\u201d That sounds an awful lot like, \u201csigned with another team in his home country, the UK, rather than be on our base in Switzerland.\u201d<\/p>\n

Former Ferrari team boss Mattia Binotto \u2014 in charge of the Audi F1 project \u2014 has taken over team principal duties. At least for now, with Audi\u2019s latest statement saying, \u201cthe team\u2019s future structure will be fully defined at a later stage.\u201d<\/p>\n

The news release tennis rally then continued, as Aston released a statement from Lawrence Stroll. He claimed he \u201cset the record straight,\u201d but did nothing of the sort.<\/p>\n

Stroll did say: \u201cI would like to reaffirm that Adrian Newey is my partner and an important shareholder. He is Aston\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.\u201d<\/p>\n

That backs up what Luke wrote\u00a0in this piece<\/a>, that Aston is eyeing up signing Wheatley so that Newey can go back to being a car-design guru, as well as having oversight of the whole team from his position as managing technical partner and as a major shareholder.<\/p>\n

But that means he wouldn\u2019t have to run Aston day to day. It would also mean Aston has had five team principals in five years, a really rotating cast facing Stroll across the net at the green team.<\/p>\n

Ultimately, it seems likely that Wheatley will end up at Aston after all. Stroll only finished his statement by saying, \u201cWe are regularly approached by senior executives of other teams who wish to join Aston, but in keeping with our policy, we do not comment on rumor and speculation.\u201d<\/p>\n

Clear as mud. But what else to expect from a team that has been in crisis<\/a>\u00a0since preseason testing \u2026<\/p>\n

Outside the points<\/p>\n

\ud83c\udde9\ud83c\uddea Mercedes has a\u00a0new deputy team principal<\/a>: its former head of communications, Bradley Lord.<\/p>\n

\ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\uddf8 Luke interviewed IndyCar-star-turned-Formula-2-hopeful Colton Herta for\u00a0this piece<\/a>\u00a0outlining the 25-year-old\u2019s aim to reach F1 with Cadillac in the coming years.<\/p>\n

\ud83d\ude02 And finally, just because it amuses me so much, check out F1\u2019s podium announcer confusing Antonelli for 2007 world champion Kimi R\u00e4ikk\u00f6nen.\u00a0He took it so well<\/a>!<\/p>\n

\ud83d\udceb Love Prime Tire? Check out The Athletic\u2019s other newsletters<\/a>.<\/p>\n