Red Bull’s sporting director Jonathan Wheatley will be leaving the team at the end of 2024 to join Sauber/Audi as their first team principal and Max Verstappen has no hard feelings for Wheatley. The Dutchman wished him the best and hoped that he would excel at his new role at Audi.
“At the end of the day, I have a great relationship with Jonathan and it will always be like that anyway even if he’s moving to a different team,” Verstappen said per a recent episode of BBC’s F1: Chequered Flag podcast.
“But it’s a different opportunity for him and also a different role. And sometimes it’s also a bit of a new challenge, right? So there are no hard feelings, I am happy for him that he gets that opportunity.”, he added.
However, Verstappen is also aware of the fact that Wheatley will be greatly missed by the team for everything he has done. Being the Sporting Director, Wheatley was known for his expert command over the rules of the sport and that’s something he used to help Verstappen win his first championship in Abu Dhabi 2021.
During the 2021 season, F1 gave the fans a sneak peek into the conversations that go on between the teams and the race director, a position that Michael Masi held in 2021. During these FIA-team radio conversations, Wheatley earned a lot of spotlight for his calm handling of all dicey on-track situations.
Even at the season finale in Abu Dhabi, Wheatley was instrumental in pushing for a safety car restart. While Masi was under pressure and made the error of not letting all cars unlap themselves, the Red Bull sporting director did his level best to help Verstappen’s cause.
Audi will hope Wheatley brings this maturity and control during his tenure as the team boss. Moreover, one of Sauber’s key issues may also need fixing from him.
Wheatley can help solve Sauber’s pit stop woes
Besides Wheatley, Mattia Binotto will also be joining Audi as their COO and CTO. The former Ferrari boss will be handling the factory side of things, leaving the 57-year-old in charge of the on-track operations. One key aspect Sauber is currently struggling with on track is their pit stops.
Now, under Wheatley’s guidance, Red Bull have been the best team at pulling off quick pit stops for several years. Andrew Benson thinks that Sauber/Audi’s pitstops from 2025-26 may also become efficient under the Red Bull veteran.
“Wheatley has been there [at Red Bull] for 18 years, you know, they’ve got the best pit stops in the pit lane, he runs that, that’s his job among many other things,” Benson said.
In the meantime, Red Bull seems to already be looking at solutions to replace Wheatley. Some reports suggest that the Milton Keynes-based squad could split Wheatley’s responsibilities into two people — one of which could be Verstappen’s race engineer, Gianpiero Lambiase.
