Despite Getting What He Always Wanted, One KRA Might Catch Audi Team Principal Designate by Surprise

Despite Getting What He Always Wanted, One KRA Might Catch Audi Team Principal Designate by Surprise

Jonathan Wheatley, who has been a crucial part of Red Bull Racing as their Sporting Director, is finally set to step into a role he has long aspired to and that is of a team principal. After leaving Red Bull at the end of 2024, Wheatley will serve one year of gardening leave before taking the responsibility of team principal at Audi in 2026.

However, while Wheatley has vast experience in racing operations, there’s one crucial aspect of the team principal role that might catch him off guard—media interactions. In a recent conversation on the Sky Sports F1 podcast, Formula 1 pundits Ted Kravitz and Matt Baker discussed Wheatley’s appointment and highlighted a key challenge he might face.

Kravitz noted that Wheatley lacks experience in the kind of extensive media engagements that come with being a team principal. Kravitz remarked;

“As a team principal, he’s going to have to face the media. To my certain knowledge, I don’t think I’ve ever really seen an in-depth interview with Jonathan Wheatley. I’ve done the odd piece on pit stops before where Red Bull has allowed us to talk to him about Red Bull being the best at pit stops.”

Adding to this, Kravitz pointed out how Audi took three hours to confirm Wheatley’s appointment, leading to speculation about how comfortable he might be with public relations. Baker joked that Wheatley might be “paying the price of not having an Instagram account and not being the master of his own PR.”

While Baker wasn’t sure if Wheatley had a social media presence, he was confident that the 57-year-old was not someone who actively managed his public image. This lack of social media presence suggests that Wheatley has limited experience in public relations, a skill that is important in the modern Formula 1 landscape.

Post Edited By: Vidit Dhawan
Audi Jonathan Wheatley Red Bull Racing Ted Kravitz

About the author

Veerendra Vikram Singh

Veerendra Singh is a senior Formula 1 journalist at TheSportsRush, with a passion for the sport that goes back to 2008. His extensive coverage and deep understanding of the sport are evident in the more than 900 articles he has written so far on the sport and its famous personalities like Max Verstappen, Lewis Hamilton, Toto Wolff, Charles Leclerc and more... When he's not at his work desk, Veerendra likes to spend time with his two feline friends and watch races from the Formula 1 and MotoGP archive. He is always up for a conversation about motorsport so you can hit him up anytime on his social media handles for a quick word.

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