A lot has been happening at Red Bull with several top-level employees already out the exit door. The latest name added to that list is that of Jonathan Wheatley, who is currently the sporting director of Red Bull Racing. However, Wheatley wasn’t in the mood to leave the Red Bull camp, as little as until three months ago, as revealed by veteran F1 Journalist Joe Saward.
Writing in his online blog – Green Notebook, Saward talked about the ongoing situation at Red Bull. With Wheatley leaving the Austrian team to reportedly join Audi as their team principal, the Saward looked back to his older conversation with him.
At the Miami GP in May, Saward and Wheatley met and discussed the future course of the latter. There, the 57-year-old revealed that he had no intention of moving soon, but Saward feels ambition led him down another path.
BREAKING: Red Bull Sporting Director Jonathan Wheatley to leave the team to become Team Principal of the Audi F1 project#F1 pic.twitter.com/pO6Gzv5DpT
— Formula 1 (@F1) August 1, 2024
“This was a little odd as, as recently as Miami, Jonathan told me that he was not really interested in moving anywhere and was keen to know from where the rumours about him had come. Still, times change and ambition is a funny thing.”, he said.
Wheatley’s impending exit has put the internal problems at Red Bull under the spotlight once again. At one point, he was the next in line to replace Christian Horner amid strong talks about the Briton’s resignation.
But things have since taken a U-turn and it is Wheatley who’ll be departing from the team instead. Notably, Adrian Newey announced his departure before the Miami GP weekend, and perhaps that played a role in Wheatley also stepping away.
What’s more bizarre is the fact that Red Bull was the first to announce the news. Audi was caught blindsided by the move as they were yet to reveal anything. The German carmakers were eventually forced to announce Wheatley’s onboarding alongside Mattia Binotto, who awaits the arrival of the British mechanic.
Binotto and Wheatley to head Audi together
After serving a gardening leave at the end of the 2024 season, Wheatley will start working with Sauber/Audi in July 2025. The news of the Briton’s onboarding comes just days after Audi announced the departure of Andreas Seidl and Oliver Hoffmann after an internal power struggle. Since then, they have also revealed how the Binotto-Wheatley partnership will work.
BREAKING: Audi announce former Ferrari chief Mattia Binotto to lead F1 Project#F1 #Formula1 pic.twitter.com/Z91WoMDSuo
— Formula 1 (@F1) July 23, 2024
In a straightforward statement, Audi stated that there was a clear division of duties between both new men. With the duties individually defined, they will pair up to take joint responsibility for the team’s success while reporting directly to Gernot Dollner (Audi CEO).
As team COO and CTO, Binotto will look after Audi’s factory in Hinwil and their technical department. He will also be overseeing the design and build of the Audi cars as well as their engine plant in Neuburg. Meanwhile, Wheatley as the team principal will run the F1 team at events while also acting as the media spokesperson.
