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Audi’s original decision to sign Jonathan Wheatley ‘raised eyebrows’ as he would have to work alongside Mattia Binotto.
When Audi announced that they were taking over Sauber for the 2026 Formula 1 season, it was expected that Mattia Binotto would be the team principal.
As the Italian was already with Sauber as their CEO for the 2024 and 2025 Formula 1 seasons, but this was thrown into debate after it was revealed that Jonathan Wheatley was leaving Red Bull for Sauber.
The Brit joined Sauber in 2025 and took on the role of team principal, which he was set to hold at Audi for the 2026 Formula 1 season, alongside Binotto, who would remain as CEO.
However, after only two Grands Prix in the 2026 season, it was announced that Wheatley would leave his role at Audi, and it is expected he will switch to Aston Martin.
Audi confirm Jonathan Wheatley’s exit – Who should take over as their team principal?
Eyebrows were ‘raised’ at the decision to sign Wheatley and Binotto
In a Q&A session with the BBC, it was reported that many eyebrows were ‘raised’ within the Formula 1 paddock when Audi decided to hire Wheatley and Binotto.
This was because, in the past, in the Formula 1 paddock, dual leadership had rarely ever worked within teams, so having Wheatley and Binotto within a team, there had been suspicions that it would not work.
The BBC reported, “It was expected one would win out. In the end, Audi decided to remove them both, and appoint Mattia Binotto and Jonathan Wheatley in a dual leadership role, Binotto as chief operating and technical officer and Wheatley as team principal.
“Many in F1 raised their eyebrows at that – dual leaderships rarely work. Add in that at Audi there was another senior figure, in chief executive officer Adam Baker, and many felt the leadership of Audi looked unwieldy.
“So it was not a massive surprise when that structure was streamlined, with Baker removed, and Binotto made head of the Audi F1 project under Audi CEO Gernot Dollner. That was supposed to be that. Binotto was in overall charge, Wheatley ran the race team.
“But when Wheatley decided that he wanted to come back to the UK, his talks with Aston Martin leaked, and he and Audi agreed to split with immediate effect.”
Is Jonathan Wheatley the right man to get Aston Martin back on track in 2026?
What was your immediate reaction to the news? Let us know in the comments below!
Wheatley and Audi part ways amid Aston Martin rumours
After the Chinese Grand Prix, rumours spread throughout the Formula 1 paddock that Adrian Newey would lose his role as team principal at Aston Martin.
Despite an attempt by Aston Martin owner Lawrence Stroll to ‘set the record straight’ that Newey would not lose his role at the team, the reports about Newey’s position continued to grow.
It had also been confirmed by Audi that Wheatley would be immediately stepping down from his role within Audi, which added to rumours that he would join Aston Martin and replace Newey.
There have been suggestions from inside the Formula 1 paddock that the decision from Stroll to replace Newey with Wheatley has been made as an attempt to save Aston Martin’s ‘image‘.
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