Jonathan Wheatley ‘bullying’ tactic helped Max Verstappen win 2021 championship

Follow us on Google Discover

Jonathan Wheatley has made some excellent contributions to Red Bull Racing over the years, which have been enough to earn him an opportunity as Sauber’s new team principal from 2025.

Most notably, his recollection of the FIA’s sporting regulations came in handy during the closing stages of the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix in 2021.

His voice will have been part of the reason why there was one final racing lap to decide the championship.

It resulted in Max Verstappen winning his maiden title, while Lewis Hamilton was left to rue what could have been over a record-breaking eighth triumph.

Jonathan Wheatley ‘bullying’ tactic helped Red Bull win title

Losing Wheatley could be a bit of a dent to Red Bull from 2025 onwards, with the sporting director off to lead the Sauber team which will become Audi in 2026.

He’s not the only one to jump ship, with Adrian Newey also off to join rivals Aston Martin from March, which is the soonest he is permitted to start there.

Speaking on the Flat Chat podcast, journalist Stuart Codling recalled how Wheatley’s knowledge was an advantage to Red Bull in 2021.

READ MORE: McLaren’s ‘very clever’ regulation exploit that made Red Bull unhappy shown off at Singapore

“Apparently Jonathan’s got eidetic recall of the rules and very often can just quote stuff off the top of his head that other people go ‘Hang on a minute, is that in the rule book? And they have to go and Google it and flip through the book and speed read.”

“We saw the epoch of this in the 2021 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix where I would contend that in many ways Jonathan Wheatley won the World Championship for Max Verstappen by basically bullying the race director into kowtowing to him.”

Who was in the right and the wrong in Abu Dhabi?

It has always been tricky to trace back what happened in the 2021 championship finale in Abu Dhabi, where the rules weren’t exactly followed.

The FIA admitted that human error played a role, with the lapped cars that were released improperly playing a part in how things panned out.

All of them, or none of them should have been let go according to the rules, but for the sake of the spectacle, only some were let go so that the title could have a spectacular finish.

READ MORE: Lewis Hamilton issues statement after criticising ‘risky’ Mercedes strategy

It was against the rules, and it prevented Lewis Hamilton from being able to defend his crown on both feet, instead being tasked with holding Verstappen up on harder and older tyres.

Who knows if there would have even been a finale with Wheatley, but his loss will surely be felt at the team he has spent nearly two decades with.