Yesterday at 10:15
Jonathan Wheatley has revealed the 'difficulties' he experienced at
Red Bull after speculation arose that he would be leaving the F1
team but which ultimately helped trigger his departure. Last year's
Miami Grand Prix weekend proved to be a very tough one for the
then-Red Bull team principal Christian Horner. Adrian Newey had
just announced he would be leaving, and a report then surfaced that
Wheatley would also be following suit. Wheatley cut an angry figure
at the Hard Rock Stadium on the occasions he did surface. The
surprising offshoot, however, is that with his name in the public
domain, it sparked approaches from Red Bull's F1 rivals. One of
those was from Sauber. On August 1, 2024, Wheatley was confirmed as
Sauber's new team principal, helping to spearhead the team's
transition into Audi for next season. Just a few days previously,
good friend and former Ferrari team boss Mattia Binotto was named
as the chief operating and technical officer of Sauber Motorsport.
In May this year, Binotto's responsibilities were expanded as he
became head of the Audi F1 project. Wheatley, whose contract did
not allow him to join Sauber until April 1 this year, has explained
the initial news report over the Miami GP weekend caused issues but
ultimately worked in his favour. "I'll be honest with you, there
was an article that came out in Miami last year," said Wheatley,
speaking to RacingNews365 . "I wasn't happy, and I had a very, very
low media profile at the time, on purpose. And then suddenly my
name was in all the papers, which created a difficult situation at
work. "But what it did do, there were then a lot of approaches, and
you start thinking about it [leaving] then, because people are
obviously very interested in where you could be. "I guess also my
mindset there was, I'd signed a lock-in contract, and I would
honour that from start to finish. I'm not the sort of person who
signs a contract and then tries to wheedle my way out of it because
there's a slightly different offer. "When I commit to a team, I
commit to it. You know, 16 years at Benetton/Renault, 19 years at
Red Bull, and I have no intention of leaving here [Sauber/Audi]
either, so that opened up a lot of conversations with many teams."
Wheatley's final piece of the puzzle Upon listening to what Audi
had to offer in terms of its plans and future in F1, Wheatley was
immediately sold. "I didn't need to leave the UK to further my
career, but none of them [the talks he held] came close to how
exciting the Audi project is," said Wheatley. "I still get excited
about it now. It's still a pinch-yourself-moment when you realise
that next year there's going to be a complete transformation. You
won't recognise how different it looks. "And to be part of that
journey again, like I was in my previous one from the very
beginning, I can't tell you how exciting it is. Nothing could have
come close." The clinching factor, however, came from closer to
home. Wheatley knew that to become team principal, he would have to
uproot from the UK and move to Switzerland. That meant talks with
his wife, Emma, as to what that would entail. Eventually, he was
handed a delightful surprise. "Originally, I was going to have an
apartment in Switzerland," said Wheatley. "My wife and I were going
to keep the house in the UK and visit each other as and when. "But
the moment Emma committed to coming to Switzerland as well, then
the final piece in the puzzle fell in place."
