Jonathan Wheatley to leave Red Bull for Audi
Jonathan Wheatley, Red Bull’s sporting director, is to leave the reigning world champions to become team principal at the burgeoning Audi factory Formula 1 team.
He is the latest figure to make the move to Audi, following Mattia Binotto becoming the team’s new COO and CTO after Andreas Seidl and Oliver Hoffmann took their leave, and another high profile departure for Red Bull, following the announcement that Adrian Newey would be leaving in 2025.
This is a move up the ranks for Wheatley, who has yet to hold a team principal position. However, he obviously joins off the back of a stint as a key figure in a convincing era of dominance with Red Bull.
Known colloquially as ‘Red Bull’s pitstop guru,’ Wheatley was an early appointment to the team, joining from Renault in 2006. Indeed, he was the mastermind behind that record-breaking 1.82-second stop at 2019’s Brazilian Grand Prix.
Audi has yet to release an official statement on Wheatley’s appointment, with the news instead coming from Red Bull, which is set to announce a new team structure in due course. Wheatley will neither leave Red Bull immediately, nor join Sauber straight away. Instead, he will see out the season with Red Bull, before a period of gardening leave in 2025.
“It has been a long and successful relationship with Jonathan, over 18 years,” said Red Bull team principle Christian Horner.
“His contribution to six World Constructors’ Titles and seven World Drivers’ Championships, first as team manager and latterly Sporting Director will forever be a marker in our team history.”
Images courtesy of Motorsport Images.
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