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Aston Martin are looking to hire Jonathan Wheatley to work under Adrian Newey as their latest team principal, yet Audi could make them wait until 2027 before he joins.
Newey only assumed the role of team principal last November, as Aston Martin moved Andy Cowell aside to work closely with their new engine partner Honda and fuel supplier Aramco. It was always seen as an interim switch, as Newey is not keen to remain their team principal.
Yet the miserable start to the 2026 F1 season that Aston Martin have endured has now seen them swoop sooner than expected to hire a new team principal, with Wheatley emerging as their primary target. It has even already been said that Wheatley is set to join Aston Martin.
Yet Audi could make Aston Martin wait a while for Wheatley to arrive, and also force Newey to continue coupling his managing technical partner duties with those of the team principal. Newey is the highest person in the hierarchy at Aston Martin behind owner Lawrence Stroll.
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Jonathan Wheatley’s gardening leave at Audi could force Adrian Newey to remain Aston Martin’s team principal in 2026
Newey remains the ‘lynchpin’ of Stroll’s project at Aston Martin, but the Canadian is keen to hire Wheatley as their team principal so the most successful designer in F1 history can focus on fixing their car. On top of Honda’s hugely unreliable engine, the AMR26 clearly lacks grip.
READ MORE: All you need to know about Aston Martin F1 team principal Adrian Newey
That is according to The Race, which reports that Aston Martin are targeting Wheatley to be their new team principal to free Newey so he can focus only on ‘technical matters’. Newey’s priority is to lead an ‘aggressive’ development plan and deliver one of the best chassis in F1.
Stroll does not believe that Newey needs to be replaced as Aston Martin’s project leader. He instead wants a race team leader, which is the role that Wheatley took up when he became Audi’s team principal effective from April 2025 – working under project lead Mattia Binotto.
But while Wheatley is an ideal candidate for the position that Aston Martin want to fill, they might have to wait until 2027 for him. Audi will hold Wheatley to a long period of gardening leave, which may force Newey to continue as Aston Martin’s team boss for the rest of 2026.
Jonathan Wheatley already wants to leave Audi amid ‘tension’ with Mattia Binotto
Audi secured what many considered to be quite the coup when they revealed that Wheatley had agreed to leave Red Bull in August 2024. Wheatley held an instrumental role in the Red Bull hierarchy as their sporting director, and was essential to their consistently fast pit stops.
READ MORE: Who is Audi team principal Jonathan Wheatley? Everything you need to know
How many F1 titles will Newey win at Aston Martin?
Yet while Wheatley only began working as Audi’s team boss in April 2025, leading the end of the Hinwil, Switzerland-based F1 outfit’s time as Sauber, he already wants to leave. And The Telegraph claims living in Switzerland is only a part of the reason why Wheatley wants to go.
Wheatley is believed to have told people that his wife has struggled to settle in Switzerland, having agreed to move with him when the 58-year-old took charge of Sauber to lead Audi’s debut in F1 in 2026. But Wheatley is also thought to have a tense relationship with Binotto.
It is thought that ‘tension’ lingers in Wheatley’s relationship with Binotto, whom he reports into as the top figure in Audi’s F1 hierarchy. But it remains to be seen if, or potentially rather when, Wheatley leaves Audi to work under Newey as Aston Martin’s latest team principal.
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