Audi reacted exactly how Lawrence Stroll wanted to him leaking Jonathan Wheatley’s Aston Martin move

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Audi fell for Lawrence Stroll’s trap to poach Jonathan Wheatley by releasing the team principal within hours of reports citing Aston Martin’s interest in the Briton emerging.

News broke last Friday that Wheatley had left Audi with immediate effect after 10 months in charge, with the German brand citing “personal reasons” for his request to resign. It is said that Wheatley’s wife had struggled to settle in Switzerland, so he sought a return to England.

Wheatley relocated to Hinwil, Switzerland after taking over Sauber last April to help Audi get the team set ahead of the four rings of Ingolstadt’s debut in F1 in 2026. Audi F1 project lead Mattia Binotto has now taken over the team principal role, in the wake of Wheatley quitting.

Aston Martin could now offer Wheatley his desired return to England, as they are looking to appoint a new team principal to free managing technical partner Adrian Newey to focus on fixing their car. Newey only took up the team principal role at Aston Martin last November.

Audi confirm Jonathan Wheatley’s exit – Who should take over as their team principal?

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Audi gave Lawrence Stroll what he wanted by releasing Jonathan Wheatley as soon as Aston Martin’s interest emerged

Reports started to emerge last Thursday that Wheatley has already agreed to become Aston Martin’s new team principal. While Audi reacted by confirming his resignation the following day, suggestions that the 58-year-old has already signed a contract have been played down.

READ MORE: Who is Jonathan Wheatley? All to know about the former Audi team principal

Audi announcing Wheatley’s exit was ‘exactly’ what Aston Martin team owner Stroll wanted to see happen when he leaked his Silverstone crew’s interest through a close associate. That is according to Auto Action, which claims Audi already knew of Wheatley’s desire to depart.

Stroll leaked Aston Martin’s interest in Wheatley as he was ‘frustrated’ that Audi had shown no desire to let the Briton leave within a year of him arriving from Red Bull. But Audi fell for Stroll’s trap, and Wheatley ‘cleared his office’ in Hinwil prior to the weekend as he departed.

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Now, Wheatley is negotiating with Audi over the conditions for his gardening leave period to join Aston Martin ‘as soon as possible’. Audi, for their part, chose to let Wheatley leave with immediate effect as it would have been ‘untenable’ to let the rumours about his exit persist.

It was initially suggested that Audi could force Wheatley to spend the remainder of 2026 on gardening leave when the first reports of Aston Martin’s interest in the Briton emerged. But new reports have suggested that Wheatley could take over Aston Martin from August 2026.

The Dutch Grand Prix has emerged as the earliest round that Wheatley could take charge of Aston Martin, as F1’s final trip to Zandvoort on August 21-23 follows the summer break. The F1 paddock will split up for the summer break after the Hungarian Grand Prix on July 24-26.